


Honeysuckle

by SoulFishie



Category: Persona 5
Genre: Alternate Universe - No Metaverse (Persona 5), Alternate Universe - No Powers, Angst, Everyone Went to Shujin AU, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Minor Niijima Makoto/Okumura Haru, Minor Sakura Futaba/Yoshizawa Sumire, Mutual Pining, Not Beta Read, PTSD, Unreliable Narrator, because Akira is an idiot, oblivious kurusu akira, very self-indulgent
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-09-05
Updated: 2020-11-03
Packaged: 2021-03-06 14:54:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 7
Words: 35,132
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26310694
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SoulFishie/pseuds/SoulFishie
Summary: “You love our verbal sparring sessions and I have four years of friendship to prove it.”“Five years.”“You’ve been counting?” He teases, touched by Goro’s rare acknowledgment of their eternal connection (Goro’s words).Silence reins for a few moments before a curt voice responds, “Get ready.” Followed by a click.Akira chuckles. What choice did he have after such a rousing call to action?---Akira Kurusu was prepared to keep his extremely obvious feelings for his best friend a secret forever if that's what it took to keep him in his life. The rest of their friends, however, are completely fed up with the back and forth, and wish the two would come clean soon to spare them the misery.They don't have to wait long.
Relationships: Akechi Goro/Amamiya Ren, Akechi Goro/Kurusu Akira, Akechi Goro/Persona 5 Protagonist, Kurusu Akira & Phantom Thieves of Hearts
Comments: 118
Kudos: 393





	1. The Case of the Train

**Author's Note:**

> this is so self-indulgent it almost feels private
> 
> i'm just writing all my favorite tropes and loosely packing them in with plot at this point
> 
> pls enjoy!

Even though Akira enjoys spending time with Goro, he could easily admit the man was being particularly needy the last few months.

_Buzz buzz._

Akira groans and shoves his head underneath his pillows. Would Goro be mad if he ignored him and stole another hour or two of sleep? An image of an infuriated Goro charging into the apartment he shared with Ryuji and strangling him to death in his sleep appears in his mind. Yes. Yes, Goro would be absolutely mad if Akira disregards him for even a second longer than allowed. He chances a glance at his phone for the time, pointedly ignoring the texts pouring in from his current annoyance. Nine AM. A perfectly reasonable time.

Or at least it would be... if he hadn’t been up half the night getting schooled by Futaba in Underwatch.

Even Morgana seems annoyed at Akira’s current awake state. He tries to swat the phone from his hand, narrowly misses, and succumbs back to his half-asleep state at Akira’s side. The sight makes Akira chuckle warmly before another barrage of texts followed by his ringtone cut through the peaceful morning.

Akira hits answer before he can overthink it, “Have mercy,” He moans into the phone.

“Not likely. Meet me at the café two blocks from your apartment.”

Goro’s sharp voice feels like a shot of caffeine straight to his veins. And even though the voice was harsh and demanding, Akira’s heart still stutters at the sound. A moment passes and the words finally click in his head. Akira throws an arm over his eyes and flops over onto his bed. Trust Goro to be absolutely unforgiving, “Hello to you too, honey. How’s your morning been?”

“Dreadful, and only getting worse with every moment you keep me waiting.” Goro’s deep voice responds, ignoring Akira’s attempts at flirty redirection.

“Can’t this wait until I feel more like a human being?”

“No.”

“Then give me ten minutes to look less like a zombie.” Akira struggles to keep his begging to a minimum. He’s been told by multiple people that his unkempt, bedhead fashion worked for him, but Goro was always less than pleased whenever he’d go out into public that way.

“I’m sure it would take much longer than that.”

“Then I’d better get started now, and I’ll let you know when I finish.”

“If you aren’t here in ten minutes, I assume you know the consequences?”

“Yeah, you attempt to infiltrate my house and get stopped by my cat.”

“I think I can defeat your ten-pound cat, Akira.” The sound of his name through Goro’s voice always gives Akira a jolt. Even when Goro is threatening to beat up his cat.

“You _think_. But I know you can’t. No one can, Morgana’s a bully.”

“Do you need an intervention from your cat, Akira?”

“Are you offering?”

“Quit redirecting questions back to me and get ready. I’m growing impatient.”

“You love our verbal sparring sessions and I have four years of friendship to prove it.”

“Five years.”

“You’ve been counting?” He teases, touched by Goro’s rare acknowledgment of their eternal connection (Goro’s words).

Silence reins for a few moments before a curt voice responds, “Get ready.” Followed by a _click_.

Akira chuckles. What choice did he have after such a rousing call to action?

*

To say Akira had an attachment to Goro was likely the biggest understatement concocted by man.

Ever since Akira was banished from his hometown in his second year of high school (exaggeration) and blessed with the most amazing group of friends he could ever ask for (not an exaggeration), Akira was attached to Goro. Even though he was a grade higher than him, and part of the popular student council (and most eligible bachelor of the entire school, barely beating out Yusuke), Goro took to being Akira’s rival instantly. Perhaps it was because of the lack of suitable competition before his arrival, or maybe it was the way he had instantly destroyed Goro at a darts competition at the opening assembly celebration. Either way, he’d likely never know, but it was a rivalry-turned-friendship that Akira wouldn’t exchange for the world.

Which is why Akita won’t immediately complain to Goro’s face when he arrives at the café thirteen minutes after their phone call.

Akira spots the man in question sitting in view of the outside window where he is peering in. His irritated expression, hidden partially behind soft brown hair, is focused intently on his phone. If Akira had to guess, he was probably staring at the last message he’d sent that had merely said, _senpai forgive me, i’m on my way_ ٩(｡•́‿•̀｡)۶

He couldn’t help teasing Goro, though. The man was fully himself with Akira, and so the more he teased him, the more Goro didn’t feel the need to keep up his ‘pleasant boy’ act. Instead, he would unleash his true feelings which were easily boiled down to; fed up with the world, fed up with Akira in particular, do not disturb me or else.

Akira could not get enough of it.

As if called by his thoughts, Goro’s eyes leave his phone to make contact with Akira, and his scowl deepens. Akira brings his hand up to rub the back of his neck and moves toward the table inside the café. He was so in trouble.

Goro’s head raises in its usual haughty manner and he quirks an eyebrow at Akira, “You’re late.”

Akira sits in the available seat across from him and responds, “You’re impatient.”

Goro smirks at the notion, as if aware and unashamed at the accusation. Akira knows he’s not ashamed, Goro gets his way no matter how impatient he is, it’s part of his charm.

Part of Akira’s charm is convincing anyone and everyone to be calm and relaxed around him, though, and Goro is no exception.

“How are you, Goro? Not overworking yourself?”

The smirk disappears only to be replaced by a weary smile, a genuine one if Akira is half as good at reading Goro as he thinks he is.

“I don’t want to hear that from you. I’m fine.” The words are sincere, and Akira ignores the jab at his work ethic. “I would like your assistance on a small case I’m working on.”

“Oh yeah? What could I possibly help the prodigy Detective Prince with?” He teases.

Goro rolls his eyes, “You can stop with the jokes, Akira. It’s not uncommon for me to ask your assistance when I need a charismatic fool to question possible witnesses.”

True enough, Akira thinks. Though it was a new development—

_(Akira tries not to think about the exact time Goro started to do this, lest he need to speak to his therapist so soon)_

—Goro had been asking for his help in some of the more menial tasks, like interviewing witnesses, or looking over case files for a tough mystery. They both agreed Akira was better at making the witnesses feel more at ease and less like they were being interrogated themselves.

Akira feels Goro gazing at him in question, and he belatedly realizes he’s looking for an answer. He offers him a smile. As if _no_ was ever an option to spending time with Goro.

“Yeah, of course I’ll help. What’s the mission?”

Goro nods in acceptance and reaches down to his ever-present briefcase to bring out a folder.

“We’ll be questioning possible witnesses at Shibuya Station today,” Goro begins, dropping the folder on the table between them, “Apparently there are a group of men harassing women at the Shibuya platform.”

Akira blinks in surprise. “Not that I’m not pissed at that, but is that a surprise? Why is this a case you’ve been assigned?”

Goro eyes the case folder like it’s a particularly deadly snake. Akira knows Goro, and he knows the man would not take a case that was so fruitless. Molesters on any train platform were a dime a dozen, as depressing as it was. If Goro willingly took this case on, then he must’ve spotted something in it that was especially confounding.

Sure enough, Goro continues, “The women who brought the case to the agency said something that piqued my interest. They said the men were shocked when the women turned and caught the man in the act. And not in the ‘shocked to be caught’ way, they were simply shocked with the woman’s appearance, as if they were expecting someone else.”

Akira tilts his head in confusion.

Goro eyes his reaction and explains further, “I normally would not believe such an assessment, but there were at least ten women who came forward and they all said relatively the same thing.” Goro sighs.

“So, the men aren’t harassing them for the... sake of harassing someone random? They were looking for someone in particular to harass?” Akira guesses, still confused by the strange case. He picks the folder up to lightly shuffle through the pages. He spots some rough sketches of middle-aged men in business attire. Typical salarymen, if Akira had to guess. What a cliché, this kind of man harassing women on the train platform.

“Yes, as far as I can tell.” Goro responds, “If I had to make a guess myself, I would say this is a game to them.”

“That’s a weird conclusion. Why do you think so?”

“There has been at least three different descriptions of men, yet they all have the same kind of target. Young women, slightly taller than average, and short hair.”

Akira blinks at such an apt description. “That... is so specific.”

“It was easy to identify when the women were so similar. Any detective worth their salt could spot the similarities.” Goro’s annoyed face tells Akira that he was the only one who had spotted it, and why he was the one to take the case. Akira hides his grin as best he can. Goro was so noble with such odd things. “This coupled with the fact there are multiple descriptions of different men, but they have the same preference in women, suggests to me there is a rulebook – therefore a game.”

Akira interrupts him before the conversation delves too deeply into business. “So, are we going to Shibuya Station immediately, or can I enjoy a nice breakfast with my best friend and ask how he’s been?” Akira’s cheeky tone hopefully lessens the sincerity in his words. Goro hates when he gets overly sentimental and will gladly ditch him if he gets too emotional.

Goro gives him a long look, likely weighing the cheek against the sincerity, before he sighs in acceptance and puts the case folder away.

“Yes, breakfast would be nice.”

Akira smiles brightly in triumph and awaits the smack to his head when he boldly suggests pancakes.

*

After breakfast, and not long after Akira and Goro arrive at the Shibuya Station platform, Goro suggests they split up to ask as many questions as possible, knowing they were on a time limit because of the setting and why the people were there. They had until the person they were interviewing left to catch their train. Short and simple questions were key here.

As daunting as that sounded, though, Akira made do. It was tough trying to open a conversation with ‘have you been molested here recently’ and most of the people he asked walked away in a hurry, but he was getting somewhat favorable (or unfavorable if he thought about it, getting molested was never favorable) results.

There were a couple very promising-to-the-case stories of women getting harassed or knowing someone who was harassed. True to Goro’s notes, they all had short hair and were either his height or slightly shorter. Interestingly, none of the women were wearing ‘revealing’ clothes either (not that that bothered many molesters), and instead were wearing jeans or trousers. It seemed the suspects did have a preference, but what was the meaning behind it?

Akira realizes he’s been interviewing random women for almost an hour, and he decides to find Goro to compare notes.

And then, as if he has a Goro detector installed in his blood, Akira finds him almost immediately – being talked to death by an older woman who seems to recognize him from TV.

Akira pauses in his stride toward Goro and quickly puts a hand over his mouth to quell the laughter threatening to erupt from him. Hopefully Goro doesn’t spot him in the middle of the good mood at his expense. If he notices, then Akira knows he’ll be dead before the clock strikes midnight.

Thankfully, Akira notices, Goro is trapped into being nice to the woman. In sharp contrast to the ‘open’ Goro that Akira (and the merry band of misfits he calls friends) see on a day-to-day basis (the one that is mean but honest, in words, if not actions), the TV Goro, who is famous for solving tough cases, is a cute, well-mannered, and pleasant young man.

Akira has been slowly convincing him to drop the act, but it might be too much for Goro to be openly hostile to a sweet old woman who has done nothing wrong. He watches Goro nod politely to the woman’s gushing, offering her a strained smile every time she laughs. Akira knows he should rescue him, but he’s still feeling slightly petty about being forced out of bed and bullied into a case.

He waits for a few minutes and watches Goro’s face get more and more tense as the woman speaks on and on about his many wonderful interviews and genius deductions. Finally, Akira thinks he’s had enough, and he straightens up his back to be the best knight in shining armor he can be.

“Goro! There you are!” He yells, grabbing Goro’s attention immediately. The raw relief in his features almost makes Akira feel bad for waiting so long to rescue him. Akira turns to the woman in front of him, “Please excuse me, ma’am, I’m afraid I must steal him away from you.” He makes a show of slightly bowing to the woman, exuding as much charm as he is capable of.

The woman brings a wrinkled hand to her mouth, and her face turns a delicate pink. She waves them both off without a word and Akira inwardly smirks at his job well done. He grabs Goro’s hand and leads him away out of sight.

The two make it a reasonable distance from the loading platform before Goro tries to remove his hand from Akira’s.

Akira lets him go only because Goro looks like the red overtaking his face will melt his brain at any second. How was it so easy to fluster Goro when he had legions of fans willing to stalk him at every turn?

Goro turns to him with an embarrassed look on his face, “Steal me away, hm? How did you plan on that succeeding?”

Akira smirks, “No one can resist a charming thief coming to steal away a treasure, not even the witnesses.”

Goro scoffs and mutters under his breath something Akira can’t make out before he takes a deep breath and brushes past Akira.

“Fine. Your ploy worked, now let’s go compare notes.”

Akira nods in acceptance and follows after Goro.

*

Goro picks another café to sit down in for them to compare notes, and if Akira didn’t know any better he’d think Goro was trying to wine and dine him. He remembers telling Goro forever ago that he felt most comfortable in a café where the bustle of movement around him could hide his presence much better than a restaurant could. There were no servers trying to cater to him, and he was left to his own devices, free to relax and observe those around him.

He remembers Goro had sat silently next to him and then suggested they go to the diner for lunch, the prick.

“From what I have gathered, the times the incidents occur are between six and eight on weeknight. This would line up with the idea these men are businessmen, they partake in this game after work.” 

Akira nods along and adds his own observations, “You were right about the physical descriptions. They all said they sere wearing some form of pants too. They also said they were extremely distracted when it happened, and it was only because they had been harassed before that they could tell it happened again.”

“Hmm, curious,” Goro says tapping his fingers on the tabletop.

Akira watches him contemplate the information before he decides to interrupt his thoughts.

“If only you put this much thought into your Featherman R theories.”

Predictably, Goro takes extreme offence to his words. “How dare you.” Akira sees Goro clench his fists as if barely resisting the urge to leap across the table and strangle him for his insolence, “Just because you were correct in assuming an inoffensive side character was the true villain does not give you free rein to insult me.”

“You were the one making fun of me for predicting him! Didn’t you say, ‘don’t be an idiot, Akira, I thought you of all people wouldn’t be fooled by such baseless rumors’?” Akira whines, “I even backed up my prediction with clues!”

Goro growls under his breath, “They were ambiguous clues! They could’ve applied to anyone.”

And with that, Akira knows he’s successfully goaded Goro into a conversation without the stress of work.

The two continue arguing until the conversation drifts to the newest episode, with Akira sheepishly admitting he hadn’t watched it yet. He’d been waiting to watch it with Goro, but he’s been busy. This causes Goro to still before covering his face with his hand.

“Okay. We can watch it this weekend after I hand my notes over to the officers in charge of this case.” He mumbles into his hand, not seeing Akira’s beaming face.

The happy atmosphere is interrupted by Goro’s phone going off.

The two still before Goro stands up to answer it a few steps away from the table.

Akira takes the drink he doesn’t remember ordering and tries not to eavesdrop on the conversation Goro seems to be having with a superior if his polite tone is anything to go by.

The conversation ends quickly, and Akira sees Goro pause for a moment after removing the phone from his ear.

“That’s my superior at work, he wants me to come in for some routine debriefing,” Goro says as he comes back to the table to grab his briefcase, “I apologize, Akira, it seems I must be going.” The look on Goro’s face suggests he’s less than happy about the turn of events but Akira can’t tell if it’s because he has to go back to work or if it’s because he has to leave Akira.

He knows which one his traitorous heart prefers it to be.

He offers a smile to Goro anyway, “Don’t worry about it, Goro. I should go check on Futaba anyway, we both stayed up pretty late last night.”

Goro pauses in his packing to give Akira a look. The look isn’t one Akira is familiar to, so he tilts his head in reply.

Goro shakes his head, “Get more sleep, Akira. You’ll make your followers worry.”

“ _Friends_ , Goro. They are our _friends_.”

“Is that not what I said?”

Akira laughs in response. He knows Goro considers their group to be his friends, even though he constantly tries to distance himself from them. The second Ann asks for help, or Ryuji asks for advice, though, Goro is one of the first on the scene. Sometimes before Akira himself, especially if it’s Sumire or Ann. He just loves to be confrontational, and it’s one of the reasons he and Akira became such good friends in the first place, so Akira is glad for it.

Just as Goro is about to leave, Akira decides to throw down one last thought, “Remember, our longstanding bet says if I find a missing link to this case, you owe me dinner.”

Goro hesitates and then a large grin overtakes his face, “How many times will you have paid for my dinner after this? And yet you still remind me.”

Akira can only put his head in his hands. It’s not often he finds the missing link in a case, he’s usually just the muscle to get information, but Goro still hasn’t figured out the bet is a ploy to make him spend more time with him. Akira doesn’t mind losing this bet over and over again.

Goro finishes his coffee before he leaves and mumbles, “Not as good as yours.”

Akira feels himself blush and thankfully Goro was already on his way out, so he doesn’t notice. Akira smiles and calls out, “I’ll text you if I think of anything,” and when Goro turns around to wave, he exaggerates a wink.

The blush that follows is quickly obfuscated by hair and he’s out the door before the teasing begins.  
  


*

After parting ways with Goro, Akira’s feet start to take him in the direction of Yongen-Jaya.

Even though Akira had spoken with (and gotten destroyed by) Futaba in an online game not a full day earlier, he still liked to visit her frequently to see how she was in person. Visiting the area also gave him a chance to go to Leblanc and see Sojiro, who he missed dearly every day after he’d moved from the café. From seeing him daily to seeing him whenever he could make time for Leblanc (twice a week, if he was lucky) was a challenge. He may have his own place living with Ryuji now, but the comfort of having a father figure look after him was a joy he’d cherished.

Knowing his old room was now occupied by his favorite starving artist also gave him reason to visit frequently. Hopefully Yusuke wouldn’t mind being interrupted by his visit.

The familiar backstreets feel pleasantly nostalgic as he makes his way on muscle memory through Leblanc’s front door.

Ignoring the customers seated at the tables, Akira lets his mind wander to the memory of Goro waiting on the barstools practically every day to challenge him to some new competition. And even when Goro had no competition to offer, their days were often spent planning the humiliation of some new bigshot in Shibuya they’d collectively decided to dethrone through some intricate game they played. Akira smiles at the memory of an angry Goro chastising him for being a reckless idiot when the game went too far, but wasn’t that what made it fun? He’d get in trouble trying to find the truth, and Goro would bail him out with his clever acts.

Akira doesn’t realize how far he’d let his mind wander until a familiar voice interrupts his thoughts with an almost surgical precision.

“MONA CHOP!”

The voice screams almost directly into his ear, followed by a sharp pain to the back of his head. Akira instantly ducks down, covering his head and whimpering his objection to the attack on his person.

“F-futaba-senpai!” Another voice enters Akira’s awareness, much more softly and reasonably. A softer hand covers his own to cradle his throbbing head and Akira cracks open an eye to see two bright-headed girls staring at him, one more concerned than the other, “Are you okay, senpai?! You’re not too hurt are you?”

Akira moans in pain. His lack of attention to Futaba often gets him smacked around, but would it kill her to tap him on the shoulder instead of resorting to violence immediately? The look of satisfaction on her face signals to him the answer. Akira is simply too fun of a punching bag to consider getting his attention gracefully.

“Ah, Sumire, my young pupil. Even though you’ve known Akira for four years, you’ve yet to realize what it takes to snap him out of an Akechi funk.”

“We’ve known him for the same amount of time, Futaba-senpai...” Comes Sumire’s weak counterargument.

Akira finally gets his bearings enough to respond to Futaba’s indirect insult, “I wasn’t in an ‘Akechi funk’, I was just thinking about the new Featherman episode.” He lies, knowing how easily he can misdirect Futaba. Such misdirection’s would never fly with Goro, but that was why they were eternal rivals.

“As if, Red Hawk,” Is Futaba’s snarky response. So much for misdirection, Akira supposes. Maybe he’s off his misdirection game, after an afternoon basking in Goro’s attention and presence.

Talk about lovesick, he groans inwardly. Can’t even pay attention to a conversation with Futaba because the thought of Goro instantly sends his mind careening in another direction. At the thought of Futaba, Akira hastily brings his head up to glance at her. Sure enough, she has an arm raised with her hand ready to deliver another chop to his abused head.

“Ah, mercy! Futaba!” He brings his hands up in a placating matter, waiting for her to lower her arm before turning to a worried looking Sumire at his side, “Sumire, thank you for being worried, but Futaba didn’t hit me hard enough to really hurt.” A bare faced lie, but worth the relief on Sumire’s face.

Futaba scoffs and sits back down at one of Leblanc’s stools. Akira rises to his feet unsteadily and offers Sumire a hand as well. She gracefully accepts and moves to sit next to Futaba.

“You can’t fool me, Akira. I know you haven’t watched the newest Featherman because Akechi hasn’t been by to watch it with you, according to your text log,” Futaba smugly informs him, and Akira is reminded for the millionth time that he should really set boundaries on how much Futaba can cyberstalk him, “So, spill. Why are you in an Akechi funk today?”

Akira groans and turns to face them both, “Before you make me get into it, how have you two been? I came by to see and check in on you, Futaba. And with you here too, Sumire, I’d love to know how your recent gymnastics competition went?”

Futaba narrows her eyes at him, but she doesn’t interrupt when Sumire brightens at the mention of her favorite subject, “It went amazing, senpai! I placed first in the qualifiers and I’ll be in the championship in two months!”

Akira smiles at her enthusiasm, “That’s great. You deserve it, you’ve worked really hard.”

Futaba’s exasperation with Akira doesn’t stop her from lifting her head high with pride when she comments, “Of course she deserves it! Sumire is top tier! Nobody is on her level.” Sumire blushes at the praise from Akira and Futaba, but Akira notices her subtly looking at Futaba with a look of awe.

Futaba returns the look quickly with a proud grin of her own before quickly turning to Akira once more, “Don’t you even think of distracting me! I’m the master of subterfuge and you are but the pupil.”

Akira grins back at her, “Hiding in your room doesn’t count as subterfuge.”

Sumire giggles, but apparently decides to team up with Futaba when she says, “Maybe she’s right, senpai, because even I can tell you’re stalling.”

Akira’s grin falls off his face as he realizes he’s not getting out of Futaba’s interrogation. Once upon a time, Sumire wouldn’t even think of doing anything if it meant disagreeing with Akira in any way. Akira was only too happy to introduce her to Futaba (after Futaba had decided the outside world was worth her time) and get that starry stare off of him and onto someone more worthy. And as happy as he is that Sumire is finally able to challenge him without rose-tinted glasses, he can’t help but miss it in this moment.

Trying to explain to them both how thoroughly he was wrapped around Goro’s finger was embarrassing enough, but now he knew the group chat would hear this story by the end of the hour if he was lucky.

So, with two faces eagerly awaiting his explanation, Akira reluctantly, but contentedly, explains his day with Goro.

*

“So let me get this straight,” Futaba’s analytical mind makes an appearance for the case Akira has presented her with, “There is a group of weirdo men hanging out at the Shibuya station, molesting random women, are seemingly super shocked when the women turn around to confront them, then they apologize profusely, and run away?”

Akira _hmms_ in response. Sumire pauses her admiring stare toward Futaba to turn toward Akira in confusion. Akira shrugs in response to her silent question. The case was weird, but not perplexing enough that Goro would need his help, he thought. There must be something else that Goro felt he was missing that Akira’s instinct could pick up on. He still wasn’t sure what it was though.

Futaba continues, “So, in response to this rash of complaints, Akechi demanded a team-up?”

Akira nods in response. Futaba doesn’t notice though, her head bowed in contemplation. He turns to Sumire to ask a question while she was lost in thought, “Is Yusuke here today? I wouldn’t put it past him to not notice our ruckus if he’s painting something.”

Sumire shakes her head, glancing at the staircase leading up to the attic, “He left earlier yelling about inspiration in Inokashira Park. He probably won’t be back until Futaba-senpai and I capture him ourselves.”

That was so like Yusuke, Akira smiles. Even in high school, Yusuke would disappear at random times only to show up many hours later claiming he had found an ultimate inspiration. It was an eccentricity that Akira loved to indulge him in. Everyone but Goro had gotten used to Yusuke asking ludicrous things of Akira, and Akira willingly going along with it. Half the fun was Goro getting increasingly enraged by the absurd happening around him, but unable to stop Akira from partaking.

The sound of Futaba groaning in annoyance brings Akira out of reminiscing and he turns to her in amusement.

“I’ve decided that I don’t care about you and Akechi’s weird courting ritual!” She yells, shocking the few customers in the café. Akira thanks his lucky stars Sojiro isn’t here, they would all be kicked out if her were. “Let’s do anything else, I beg of you both. My mind is for internet shitposting, not detective work.”

Akira and Sumire smile at each other.

Sumire is the one to place a hand on Futaba’s shoulder and motions to the attic upstairs, “I bet Akira-senpai’s old GameStation is still up there, if you want to play some very old games?”

The idea perks her up immediately, “I still haven’t beat Akira’s high score in Featherman Seeker!”

The two giggle and make their way upstairs, completely forgetting the customers still in the shop. Akira smiles and wonders how Sojiro thought Futaba would sit through a shift at LeBlanc peacefully. He stands up to grab his old apron still hanging off the rack and settles into his shift at LeBlanc.

*

The idea doesn’t come to Akira until he’s halfway through a shift at Rafflesia the next day, slowly wrapping a bouquet for a nervous looking businessman. The man clearly forgot an anniversary of some sort and anxiously eyes Akira’s slow movements, unaware of how Akira is being slow on purpose. Maybe this will teach the man to own up to forgetting and get a proper bouquet instead of panic buying from the station flower shop.

As uncharitable as it was, Akira wonders why men have such a hard time being aware of the world around them, whether it be important dates or the feelings of the stranger they were molesting on a busy station platform. Would this nervous businessman even notice if the person next to them was being harassed? Would he even notice if he himself was being harassed, or would he just brush the incident off as an accident?

Akira’s hands pause in their wrapping.

That was a good question. Would a random guy on the platform notice if he’d been the victim of harassment? Maybe, if they were conscious of it. But would they go through the trouble of reporting it if they noticed? Likely not. If someone wanted to get away with harassing people, wouldn’t they choose someone who wouldn’t even know they were being harassed? Goro had said himself that the men’s behavior was as if they got no enjoyment from the act of harassing, as if a game were being played and the men had lost when they were caught.

A game…

Maybe Akira should inject himself as a piece, if this was all some big game to the players.

“U-um… s-sir? Are you finished?” A voice interrupts Akira’s master planning and he checks back into what he was doing. The businessman nervously motions to the now finished bouquet in his hands and desperately signals his need to leave.

Akira hands him the bouquet silently. The man leaves quickly, but Akira is too busy thinking on his next move to care. Hopefully the man would be better next anniversary, but it didn’t matter.

Akira has a great idea on what to do next for the case.

His shift ends at four, and the timetable Goro had mapped out said the incidents had occurred between six and eight in the evening. He has the perfect opportunity to get some concrete evidence for the case. If he was lucky, Goro could get a suspect into custody today and then he would owe Akira dinner.

Akira smiles widely and glances at the clock on the far side of the shop. Get to the Shibuya Station platform, and act as distracted as possible. Play up the mannerisms he saw in the witnesses and be approachable. All of it seemed easy enough, and Akira was nothing if not a master of being approachable.

Time passes quickly with no incident, and Akira quickly pulls off his apron and waves goodbye to his replacement when his shift ends.

He remembers to pull out his phone to send a text to Goro, smiley widely at the plan forming in his head. This way there might not be many more victims and Goro could spend a day relaxing instead of stewing over this case. His fingers type out the message and his excitement clearly shows through the texts.

_i have an idea_

_i’m gonna go get evidence for the case_

(๑˃ᴗ˂)ﻭ

_come to shibuya station for a possible arrest_

With that text sent, Akira ignores the immediate vibration he gets in return, and stands up straight in preparation to catch a criminal or two.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> please be gentle with grammar and spelling errors, i'm an idiot


	2. The Case of the Train (Part 2)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Akira puts his dumb plan into motion, Goro isn't impressed, their friends are exasperated.

Akira knows this plan is terrible.

Well, Akira amends, his deduction is probably fine, but the plan to just sit and wait for a potential molester to decide he’s a worthy target and come up to him willingly? Awful.

But, at the very least, he’ll get a face. And if he’s _really_ lucky, he’ll get a name.

Akira keeps himself looking distracted, consciously looking dumbfounded and staring at the timetables for the trains. He’d turned his phone off shortly after arriving, aware of the actual distractions it could cause him, especially because of the way it was vibrating. Akira knows Goro is trying to reach him, and he’s probably mad too, but he’s already given him plenty of information if he wanted to help. If not, Akira can handle a simple chase down of the suspect if need be.

Another train unloads a plethora of people and Akira gives them a cursory glance. He’s unsure if the suspect would be coming be train or by the Shibuya Station entrance, so he can’t be too focused on the crowd.

He prides himself on his patience, but when a half hour goes by with no activity, to him or anyone else for that matter, he wonders if he should relocate. Honestly, it was strange no one had come up to him to question if he was lost like he’s some scared child.

A shiver goes through him, and he wonders if he thought too soon on his relocation. He feels a sensation that can only come from a deep foreboding, a feeling of someone’s eyes focused on his back. His sixth sense for the feeling has been honed from being the victim of uncomfortable stares and whispers all throughout high school. It was a feeling he never thought could be _beneficial_ until now. Maybe the stares were a good thing in the long run, he thinks humorlessly.

Actually, Akira takes that back. It still sucks. At least now he can use it for good.

Akira takes a deep breathe to calm himself. The staring was never something he liked, and the anticipation that it may accompany something bad only makes him more wary and nervous. He takes more deep breaths to stop the flood of negativity threatening to overwhelm him. He decided to do this. This was his idea to help Goro. He can’t wimp out on his shitty plan now. He’d already texted Goro anyway, so he leverages the feeling of disappointing Goro against the cold stare burning into his back.

Which one was worse? Akira knows, easily.

The feeling intensifies and intensifies until Akira has the urge to turn around and confront the person.

A wisp of air and the feeling of a hand reaching out to grab him brushes by Akira’s skin, sending goosebumps up and down his arms. The world narrows in and the subway sounds fade away.

Then, a voice cuts through the silence.

“Masahiro Higuchi, won’t you please come quietly with me for a moment?”

Akira could recognize that voice anywhere. He quickly turns around to see a middle-aged man with his hand outstretched toward him. The mans aging face is frozen in shock and his eyes dart side to side as if looking for a pathway to run to.

Behind the man, Goro is accompanied by two stern looking police officers. Akira stiffens at the sight of them which Goro notices right away, if the narrowing of his eyes were any indication. The middle-aged man drops his arm and turns to Goro and the officers, attempting to put up a completely innocent look.

Goro ignores him completely and turns to the officers at his side, “I assume you can handle it from here? I’m leaving this in your _very capable hands._ ” Goro’s tone turns sarcastic at the end, something probably only Akira can understand. The two officers don’t notice the tone and nod in acceptance. “Excellent. I shall be taking my leave then.”

Akira takes a step back, expecting Goro to glide right past him, but the man grabs his wrist instead.

The look on his face promises retribution. “You’re coming with me.”

*

Akira takes the time while Goro is dragging him away from the scene to turn on his phone and check his notifications. A few missed calls from Ann and Futaba, and considerably more missed calls from Goro and a few texts. Akira sneaks a peak at Goro’s face while he’s being dragged away.

His face is pulled into one of his deeper scowls and his attention is focused on keeping a firm grasp on Akira’s wrist.

Akira grimaces at the lecture he knows he’s about to get. He checks Goro’s texts to try and ready himself for the upcoming anger. Maybe the texts will give him a hint to the extent of Goro’s anger. He finds a few sent almost directly after he sent out his half-baked plan. He recalls the vibration he received right after and inwardly smacks himself for not simply informing Goro of the finer details.

_Akira what does this mean?_

_Akira_

_Pick up the phone if you know what’s good for you_

Oh boy. Akira can only wince. It’s not often that Goro is ever properly mad at Akira. They have plenty of short-lived spats designed to evoke competitive feelings between the two—but a genuine anger? Akira can count the times on one hand alone. And even then, Goro has been keeping a tight lid on his anger after—

_(a deep inhale, a sharp pain, voices going in and out, hoping someone would notice, someone has to notice, why is this happening, where’s Go—)_

—the incident a year ago.

If Goro is releasing enough anger to make him shiver even before the lecture, then Akira knows he’s in for it. His only choices are to take the punishment with grace or try and joke his way out of it.

The two turn a corner, well out of sight of the arresting officers and any other stragglers, and Goro abruptly releases his wrist.

Silence reins for a few moments. Then, a deep, raspy voice breaks through.

“Akira, do you even have a _single clue_ what you are doing?”

No. He never does, but saying that to Goro in this moment would be like waving a red flag in front of a wild bull. The mans voice was already teetering on the edge of complete meltdown, and if Akira was brave enough to look at his face, he’s sure he would see the deepest sneer imaginable. His only excuse, he selfishly wanted the case to be over faster so there would be less victims (and so Goro could spend more time with him), would only fuel the fire of Goro’s anger. But agreeing with Goro, that he had little sense and less ideas, would also enrage him.

So, Akira lets the question hang.

Goro doesn’t let the silence last, “Don’t answer that, of _course_ you didn’t. If you had a single clue, you would’ve known _encouraging criminal behavior toward yourself_ is the stupidest thing you could do.”

Akira watches Goro work himself into an angrier state, his hands alternating between grabbing his own hair and gesturing emphatically

“I can’t even fathom how this plan would even play out, did you hope our suspect would mistake you as a woman? Or maybe hope they would choose anyone and figured you were good enough?”

Akira knows he should just let Goro tire himself out when he needs to get all his feelings on the table, but he also doesn’t want Goro to think he’s a total idiot either. So, Akira lets himself speak for the first time since Goro arrived, “It was the missing link. I found it.”

Goro pauses. His gaze finally lands on Akira, assessing his words. He seems curious enough with Akira’s words to give him the benefit of the doubt. He crosses his arms and bites out an, “Explain.”

“It’s not women, the targets I mean.”

Akira can see the cogs turning in Goro’s head, going through every scrap of information he acquired on the case. The conclusion isn’t a hard one to come to, especially considering Goro’s earlier assertion that the incidents were more a game than a true harassment case.

He must connect all the pieces, because he hefts a large sigh. He loses most of the tension around his shoulders, the anger bleeding out of him. His arms uncross and he places a palm to his forehead while shaking his head.

“You were testing your hypothesis, then.”

Akira gives a small nod, staring at Goro’s face for any signs of further outbursts.

Goro continues, “I understand that. However,” He gives Akira a desperate look unbefitting the situation. The look that Akira only gets when Goro thinks he’s been especially self-sacrificing, “Please remember that I dislike being unable to reach you. Especially when you’ve texted me something worrying.”

The feeling of guilt is familiar. Akira knows he’s headstrong, and usually this trait works well for him. But he also knows how much guilt and worry Goro carries, and his headstrong attitude only rubs against him like sandpaper. Akira knows he needs to reach out better to the people around him, instead of assuming he can bear everyone’s burden.

Akira sighs somberly, “I’m sorry, Goro,” He says, “I thought I could take care of the situation and disregarded you in the process.”

Goro jolts slightly at the apology.

“I promise to think about my actions a little more, especially when it comes to you,” Akira earnestly says, hoping to gain some amount of Goro’s trust back.

Goro sighs, “I don’t want you to only think of how it will affect me if you do something dangerous, but I accept your promise.”

Akira nods, ignoring Goro’s piercing gaze that came with his words. The silence stretches on past comfortable and into awkward for a moment.

The sound of a phone ringing interrupts the two, and Goro quickly answers after sparing the caller ID a quick glance. 

“Yes?”

Akira shuffles awkwardly while a voice on the other end of the call speaks to Goro quickly. A hand quickly reaches out to grasp Akira’s, and Goro gives him a warning glance. Akira blinks in confusion before realizing Goro must think he was getting ready to bolt. He maneuvers his hand so he’s able to squeeze back reassuringly.

The smile Goro gives him is strained, but genuine.

Goro _hmms_ and _ahhhs_ into the phone as the voice keeps talking, and Akira takes to playing with Goro’s fingers while he waits. He thinks the call must be the officers at the scene relaying what information they got out of the suspects, probably a motive too if Goro’s face is anything to go by. His face smooths into a pleased expression, so Akira thinks he’s not too off the marker with his hypothesis. The call starts to wrap up and Goro glances at his briefcase, which was dropped on the floor in favor of grabbing Akira. He glances at his hand being held by Akira, and Akira understands he needs his free hand to grab a paper or two from his briefcase.

Akira reluctantly lets Goro’s hand go, and the loss of warmth is immediate.

Goro must also dislike the motion, because his face scrunches up in displeasure and his tone gets snappier with the person on the other end of the call. Goro quickly finds whatever he was looking for in his briefcase and relays the information to the other person, and almost immediately he hangs up without any ‘goodbyes’.

There is a few moments in between Goro hanging up the phone and him turning to Akira. His face is no longer angry and is instead resigned.

“You were right. The men weren’t targeting women on the subway. They targeted men as it was simply a game to them. The money exchanged hands through high-stakes betting: try and feel someone up without getting caught, and since men don’t normally notice groping, they were the target. Leave it to middle-aged salarymen to assume every person with short hair is a man.”

“Yeah? So, they _were_ targeting guys... is that charge going to stick?”

“Hardly. As if the legal system gives a shit about sexual assault victims. The women who came into the station were able to give precise enough descriptions that I was able to get names, eventually. While you were apparently trying to get molested, I was able to dig up money laundering and illegal gambling charges against them.. That should get the higher ups frothing.”

Goro’s face shows just how annoyed he is by that logic, and Akira can sympathize. Even though Goro works within the legal system as an independent detective, he often butts heads with those very people he assists.

Akira resolves to force Goro’s attention back to their planned dinner. The case has been handed off to the police, and Goro has been taken off the case, unless any new information comes to light that requires him.

“Let’s talk about something a little more befitting a friendly walk to dinner, shall we?”

Goro gives him a piercing look, obviously doubtful of Akira’s conversational skills, “And what do you propose we talk about?”

“Well, y’know, I’ve noticed you getting way friendlier with Ann recently.” He goads, “Are you finally branching out and befriending our friends?”

Goro scoffs, but the smile on his face betrays him, “She is tolerable. I find myself seeking advice from her rather often when I need help planning an outfit for an interview.”

Akira gasps in mock outrage, “Is my advice not good enough? Does my fashion sense not compare?”

Goro spares him a cool glance, “Just what are you wearing right now, Akira?”

Akira spares a glance at his washed-out jeans and dark hand-me-down jacket. Both were bought when he was still in high school and hadn’t fallen apart yet, so he hadn’t seen fit to replace them.

... Okay, point for Goro.

“Fine, got it, maybe I should be asking advice from you then?” Akira turns wide, begging eyes to Goro, “Will you dress me, Goro?” He asks in a deep pleading voice.

Goro tilts his head toward the ceiling, but Akira can still see the pink tint on his ears. _Goro is embarrassed_ , Akira chuckles quietly.

But Goro surprises him by immediately bringing his head around to lock eyes with Akira once more, “Yes, maybe I should. If only to spare myself the embarrassment of having to be seen with you.”

Akira mock gasps again, but his faux-serious expression changes quickly into laughter, “Then you’ll have to dress Ryuji as well, he’s worse than I am.”

“Not necessary. Even if I’m with him in public, no one assumes we know each other. I’m too far out of his league.”

“Goro! One day Ryuji is going to tell the press all the embarrassing high school stories he has of you, and then where will you be?”

“Suing him for defamation.”

“And when I corroborate his story?”

“Two for the price of one.”

Akira cups his hands over his mouth to stop the laughter. Goro smiles as well, rolling his eyes at the antics.

Akira takes the expression to assume he’s been successfully deterred, and he feels a genuine satisfaction from it. He knows he’s been abusing his talent at redirecting conversation, but as long as no one calls him out on it he’ll keep doing it. His friends have far too much self-doubt and self-loathing to be left to their own devices for long, and Akira has taken it upon himself to help weather their storms and distract them along the way.

If it helps him forget his own doubt and loathing, then all the better. It’s not something he wants to bring up with anyone but his therapist, no matter how many times Goro tries and fails to mention it. Besides, hearing Goro let out genuine laughter when they trade barbs back and forth gives Akira a high he can’t get with anyone else.

As if picking up on his less than charitable thoughts, Goro gives him a long look. Akira can only let his hands fall from his mouth and give a soft smile back.

Not willing to let the silence last long, Goro motions to the exit of the platform in front of them and says, “Shall we have dinner? I believe it’s on me this time.”

“Lead the way.” Akira responds.

*

The two decide on the diner in Shibuya to have their post-case dinner. Akira texts Ann and Futaba back, hoping to alleviate their concerns, and puts his phone away when he gets no answer back.

In the middle of Goro explaining the finer details of color theory in the shaping of main characters, Akira spots a mix of blonde, orange, and dark brown coming right toward their table. He knows instinctively that his and Goro’s nice dinner is about to be rudely interrupted, and his head drops onto the table making a loud _thunk_.

He can feel Goro jump as his sentence is abruptly cut off by the sound, and he voices his concern, “A-akira? What’s—?”

“If it isn’t Akira and Goro-kun,” Ann snickers, pulling a chair from a separate table to sit at theirs. Futaba and Makoto follow suit with matching grins, “Are we interrupting your date?”

Akira keeps his head down after sparring them a single glance. If he keeps his head down forever then maybe they will leave, and he can die of embarrassment in peace. He regrets ever telling Ann he was head over heels for Goro. Under the guise of ‘helping’, she never skips an opportunity to clumsily force the two into awkward situations where the only way out is to confess simultaneously.

So far she’s been unsuccessful in her attempts, but extremely successful at getting Akira to run from her at every opportunity. Akira feels his eyebrows furrow, thankfully out of view of the others while his head is still glued to the table. Even if he confessed to Goro, it wouldn’t make him feel any better. The worst-case scenario (the one he’s always been afraid of) is Goro rejects him, is disgusted their friendship was seen as something different by Akira, and leaves him after saying he wished their bond could’ve stayed the way it was. And even in the best-case scenario, the one where Goro accepts him and feels the same way, Akira can’t shake the feeling of dread.

What if Goro lies about feeling the same way as a form of penance? To make up for the incident a year ago (one that he’s never blamed Goro for, but Goro has blamed himself), Goro would go along with whatever Akira wants, at the detriment of himself.

Akira tries to shake his darkening mood by tuning back into the situation at hand, immediately taking stock of Goro and Makoto having an argument.

“—dinner, just because you are insufferable.”

“How quant, Akechi-kun, of you to think me insufferable when you’re here having dinner with Akira after putting him in harm’s way—”

“If you think you can stop Akira next time he has a foolish idea, be my guest—”

“M-makoto, Goro-kun, wait a moment, that’s not why we’re here!”

“Mwehehe, I wish I’d brought popcorn to this contest of wills.” Akira decides Futaba is his only ally in this disaster of a dinner. He pushes his drink in her direction, a robust coffee that is only half as good as Sojiro’s. She gladly takes a sip without taking her eyes off the cat fight happening directly in front of her.

Makoto’s loud scoff draws Akira’s attention to her, “Of course Akira can be reasoned with, he’s not so bullheaded that he’d jump into a situation without taking the advice of those around him.”

The look Goro gives her says he thinks Akira would do exactly that, maybe while begging those around him to aim and shoot at him while he does it.

Akira knows Goro likes all their friends, in spite of his prickly attitude, but Makoto has always been a sore spot for him. The two constantly egg each other on, friendly at first, but absolutely vicious if left unchecked. Akira thinks he can somewhat grasp the reason, after all Makoto used to have aspirations of being a cop—

_(a snap, a cry, uncaring words followed by mocking sympathy, faces shadowed with sneers, and he’s begging for a reason, any reason)_

_—_ and Goro has a deep hatred of the police system.

Ann’s loud groan interrupts Akira’s thoughts.

“Can we all agree Akira is an idiot and just enjoy a nice dinner?”

Akira lets out a whine, “When did you invite yourself to our dinner? And when did I become the point of argument in this conversation?”

“You’ve always been the maiden,” Futaba replies, picking the appetizer bread apart, “If you haven’t noticed the constant struggle for your hand throughout the years, then you’re just as hopeless as I thought.”

Akira gives her a look, “Doubt.”

“Don’t meme me, mister.” Futaba wags a finger in Akira’s face. They both pointedly ignore the verbal fight going on in front of them, “I’m an objective source here, and I’m also a genius.”

Akira decides not to comment. He takes a piece of discarded bread from her pile and nibbles it.

Although he’d wanted a nice dinner with Goro, this wasn’t bad either. Being surrounded by his friends jabbering away without a care in the world was a pleasant feeling that sent him into a relaxed state faster than anything.

The scene of Ann physically inserting herself between a still arguing Makoto and Goro was also an adorable image that he wished he could take a picture of. However, he knows the second he takes out his camera is when Goro will turn his ire to him, so he refrains.

Futaba must decide she wants in on the action because she suddenly says, “Makoto, you couldn’t even stop Akira from going after that mob boss you accidentally blackmailed him into challenging.”

“That was _you_?” Goro growls.

A deep chuckle escapes Akira. He mentally prepares his very convincing speech on why this rowdy bunch of twenty-somethings should be allowed to stay and disturb the other customers.

He can’t think of a better evening.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> once again, apologies for mistakes, i remain an idiot
> 
> next chapter is when the fun starts


	3. The Case of the Bank

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Akira has a dream, hangs out with Ryuji, and Goro gives him a dire warning.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Some delicate material here, CW: PTSD, mentions of interrogation scene

_Akira remembers this place. Dark, damp, and alone. A familiar voice echoes through the darkness, like always._

_“Did you think you could just get away with that?”_

_No, he wasn’t trying to get away with anything. ‘You’ve got the wrong guy.’ The words never leave his throat._

_“Our boss isn’t happy with you at all.”_

_Which boss? There’s never an answer, and the question lives on. Who was so mad they’d take him from his home and hurt him this way?_

_“They said we’re free to do whatever we want.”_

_Who’s they? What do they hate him so much? Akira looks to the corner of the room through lidded eyes, like he always does. The video camera in the corner blinks back, like it always does. The man in front of him chuckles and sneers, like he always does._

_“Are you thinking it can be used as video evidence?”_

_No. It never will be. No one on the other end is his friend. No one here will save him._

_“Know your place!”_

_The pain is sharp, but the feeling is muted. The shock fills his body and the loud snap echoes around the room._

_“Aww, did you need that leg?”_

_Someone someone someone—_

_“I can do whatever I want, and all I have to say is ‘self-defense’.”_

_The words are said differently, and a different person flickers before his eyes; dark curly hair, sneer directed at a vulgar blond boy. The sight jolts Akira back into focus._

_“Maybe a small nap will do you some good.”_

_A nap… this was just a dream, this already happened. It was over._

_“Wake him up.”_

_The feeling of water splashes over his body, just like it did long ago. He has to keep telling himself this is a dream; he can’t get fooled by the rush of fear falling like water over his body._

_“Rise and shine, guess who’s here to see you.”_

_Akira doesn’t have to guess. If the dream adhered to reality, then he’d wake soon. Sae would come through the door at any moment and free him from this place._

_“You were sold out.”_

_It wasn’t true. These were just words spoken by someone who despised him, meant to hurt him. Goro never meant for this to happen, he didn’t know, he’d already begged for forgiveness, he’d already forgiv—_

_“Did you really think he’d let you get away with it?”_

_The dream was just that—a dream. This was all over, he’s getting better._

_“Tch. You got lucky, kid.”_

_Wake up wake up wake up—_

_“Don’t think for a second you’re safe.”_

_He knows, he’s never safe, please wake up—_

_“You’re—”_

_Hands grab his shoulders_ and a loud voice echoes through his mind.

“AKIRA!”

His eyes snap open and he feels his body surge into a sitting position. Two hands grasp his shoulders, steadying him. If this were a few months ago, the feeling of hands on him would’ve sent him into a frenzy, desperate to flee.

But it’s not a few months ago, and Akira recognizes the voice and the hands. He opens his eyes to see a worried Ryuji peering at him, mouth pinched in worry. His breathing evens out and he reaches up to Ryuji’s arms, holding on instead of pushing away.

The silence stretches on, with Akira’s breathing evening out and Ryuji keeping a firm grasp on his arms, stabilizing him. Akira can feel the rush of gratitude he feels for his friend. Ryuji has been his anchor since day one. As someone else who had dealt with trauma stemming from an authority figure, as well as the aftermath of physical therapy, Ryuji has a perspective and understanding that no one else can give him. He knows how to pick Akira up because of how he was picked up himself.

Even in the direct aftermath, Ryuji never expressed reluctance when Akira begged for an apartment he could share with a roommate he didn’t financially need.

Ryuji was his first friend when he came to the city—freshly abandoned and ostracized. He never voiced all the flaws Akira knows he showcased. He was his go-to confidant when their group grew and the responsibilities compounded. He knows no matter how many friends he has, or how in love with Goro he is, Ryuji and he will always have a bond forged in fire.

A silent murmur of a conversation catches his attention and brings him back to the present, “Morgana, can you please let my leg go, your claws are weapons, for real, does Akira file them?—dammit cat your daggers are—ow ow ow—“

Akira lets his hands fall down from Ryuji’s arms and beckons Morgana off of Ryuji, closer to him. Morgana complies easily, dislodging his claws from the blond and jumping straight into his lap.

He immediately goes to apologize, “I’m so sorry, Ryuji, did I wake you?”

Ryuji keeps his grip on Akira’s arms, much to Akira’s joy, since he still feels he could shatter at any moment, “Nah, I was just fooling around in my room when Morgana decided to claw my door open. It’s really no big deal at all.”

He nods in acceptance. The idea of Morgana running to Ryuji for help doesn’t surprise him. He knows Morgana is attuned to his emotions, more than any other cat he’s ever known. Since he first adopted the cat in his first few weeks in Tokyo, they’ve been inseparable. It wasn’t unexpected that Morgana would seek help if Akira seemed like he was hurt, which it must’ve looked like while he was trapped in the realm of his dreams.

Akira absentmindedly goes to pet Morgana as he slowly collects his thoughts. Ryuji starts to move his hands up and down Akira’s arms, warming him up. The action manages to clue Akira into the fact that he is shivering. He couldn’t tell if it was from being cold or scared, though. He supposes it doesn’t matter, because the action helps with both.

“Alright, bud. What’s the plan today?” Ryuji questions quietly, throwing the ball into Akira’s court.

He takes a moment to respond, contemplating the question, “Probably should talk to someone, huh?”

Ryuji _hmms_ in agreement, “You haven’t had an episode in a while. You want me to leave for a sec while you call?”

Akira knows Ryuji wants him to make the call ASAP before he can back out of the situation, claiming he is fine, and nothing ever bothers him.

He’s feeling too warn out to argue with Ryuji, anyway, so he nods tiredly. He feels the loss of warm deeply when Ryuji removes his hands from his arms. He silently gives Akira a thumbs up and a smile, promising breakfast when he’s done.

Akira takes a moment to calm himself after Ryuji leaves the room, taking Morgana with him. The dreams are not as bad as they used to be, mostly voices and general apprehension instead of the visceral fear he remembers feeling in the earlier days. Before, the sound and feeling of his leg snapping would send him into a panic attack upon waking up, and the sight would terrify Ryuji and anyone unfortunate enough to be around in the aftermath.

He takes a deep breath and reaches out his hand for his phone, taking it from the side table, unplugging it from its charging cord, and dialing a number engraved into his mind. The phone rings for a few moments before the click of someone picking up sounds over the speaker.

“Akira-kun? Is that you?” The calm, soothing voice answers.

Akira sighs softly, “Hello Dr. Maruki, do you have a moment today?”

He can almost see the smile on the other end say, “Of course, Akira-kun. For you, I have all the time in the world.”

The call ends shortly after, with Dr. Maruki telling him to come in as soon as he could, and offering a multitude of snacks like always. The thought fills him with warmth. The easy way Dr. Maruki can put his mind at ease is almost supernatural. It was similar to the way Goro could put his mind at ease, but in Goro’s case it was much more likely to flood him with more risqué thoughts.

Though... thinking of Goro reminds him. Akira groans.

He has plans with Goro today.

But... the dream was still crawling along his skin, making him jumpier and more conscious of the world around him. Through experience, he knows therapy can only get him balanced enough to not fall into a deeper pit of despair, it would never hide the evidence of distress he feels radiates off his skin. If Goro saw him like this...

Akira knows how good he is at comforting others, but today... he can’t even fathom being a rock for someone else today. If Goro saw him like this, he would immediately feel like it was his fault, even if Akira never thought of it that way. He takes a moment to think of an appropriate message to send, the right mix of peppy and serious, before he decides to be honest.

Goro deserves his honesty when it comes to this issue.

_hey, i have to cancel today_

_gonna go to therapy_

_postpone to tomorrow?_

Akira waits for a moment in tired anticipation. He rubs his eyes so he can’t stare at the phone screen, waiting for a notification.

A vibration seizes his bones, and he opens one eye to see the message.

_Okay._

_I’ll see you tomorrow._

_…_

_Let our idiot friends coddle you today._

Akira feels the first appearance of a smile bloom on his face. He can practically hear Goro’s teeth grinding, having to type out the word ‘our’. The idea that Goro would go to a little extra effort just to make sure Akira knows he isn’t upset at him... it makes Akira feel a huge wave of affection.

_Thank you for being honest with me._

Akira stops his fingers from immediately responding with a snarky comment. He feels like he can leave the discussion there, no snarky comments and genuine honesty from both of them.

It’s the kind of straightforwardness he needs today.

He puts his phone back and gets up from his bed. The first step to feeling better this morning is seeing what monstrosity Ryuji had managed to cook up in the kitchen. So, with a head filled with lingering grief and fear, he makes his way out of his room.

*

Telling Ryuji he could walk to Dr. Maruki’s therapist office on his own went just as well as he expected it would—with Ryuji telling him he’d be in the area and to text him when he was done. Akira can only shake his head fondly and accept the unwavering support his friend gives him. He knows Ryuji could tell he was unwilling to be alone today, no matter what he may try and convince others otherwise.

With an unspoken promise to Ryuji to see him after his session was over, Akira enters the office building. He makes his way past the secretary easily enough, with her telling him Dr. Maruki was waiting, and he knocks on the door with a name placard reading _Dr. Maruki – Therapist, Psychiatrist_.

“Akira-kun, please come in,” A soft voice on the other side of the door beckons.

Akira pushes the door open to see Dr. Maruki relaxing on a chair, snacks and drinks already lined up on the table before him.

“Hello, Akira-kun, how lovely to see you today,” He smiles, brown hair slightly covering his glasses.

Akira gives him a slightly strained smile, “It’s nice to see you too, Dr. Maruki, I’m sorry it couldn’t be a happier occasion.”

Dr. Maruki waves Akira’s apologies away, gesturing to the seat across from him, “Please, don’t apologize, I’d rather you get it all out then keep it all in, as it were,” He smiles again, “That’s what I’m here for after all.”

Akira nods and takes a seat, taking the apple juice carton from the table and sipping it slightly. The fact that Dr. Maruki remembers what Akira likes to drink when he’s in a session was always enough to put him in a less defensive mood. Not having to explain himself right away and getting into a comfy position is likely Dr. Maruki’s job, but he can still appreciate the personal touches.

The conversation starts quickly enough, no awkward leads in, which is what Akira likes best about his sessions.

“Now, tell me Akira-kun, how is your work situation going? I know we talked last time about you taking another job.”

Akira nods in agreement, “Yeah, I took the job at the bar. It’s only part-time, like the others.”

“How many is that now, four?” Akira nods. “Are you sure you’re not overworking yourself?”

“No, I’m allowed to take time off if I need. They’re really nice about me picking my hours.”

Dr. Maruki reluctantly nods, and Akira can understand his apprehension with Akira’s work schedule. He’d heard from his friends how he was taking on too many jobs as well, but Akira didn’t find it that complicated. He’d even promised Goro that he wouldn’t work any shifts if he was helping him with a case. Although, Akira grimaces, it’s not like he’s ever held true to that promise. He’d worked at Rafflesia while they were dealing with the Subway case last week.

“Is it a method to keep yourself busy? Are you afraid of what people would think if you stopped working and took time to yourself?”

Akira considers the question, and finds himself disagreeing with it, “No... I think I just want to earn my own way after... what happened.”

Dr. Maruki nods, as if he knew the conversation would come back to the incident. Akira figures he could always safely make that bet, since he seemed to come back to the incident every time.

“Yes. Can I assume that’s why you called me today?” Akira nods, his head bowing and his shoulders tensing up. “Did you have a flashback?”

Akira’s eyes slam shut, his head filling with noises he tries to block out. Dr. Maruki doesn’t continue, likely letting Akira gather himself back together before he breaks apart completely on the office floor.

After a few moments, Akira feels confident enough in his mood to open his eyes once more, and lifts his head. Dr. Maruki gives him a gentle smile and continues his train of thought.

“You’ve been getting better, I’m happy you can reach out to others when this happens.” Akira feels a warm feeling in chest, something that usually happens when he’s praised this way. In the beginning, he had a major problem going to others for help, and it was one of the bigger problems he’d worked on with Dr. Maruki. Recently, he’d been better with sharing his moods with his friends instead of bottling it all up inside, and he’s never been happier about it.

Despite the relapse, like today’s.

“Yeah... everyone has been really understanding. Especially Ryuji, even though I’m sure I bug him when I freak out in the mornings.” He tries for a lighthearted joke, falling short based on Dr. Maruki’s expression.

“I’m sure no one is ‘bugged’ by you reaching out for help. From what you’ve told me, your friends are all good people who would love to support you if you should falter.” This was something Dr. Maruki excelled in, weighing Akira’s self-depreciation against his belief in and love for his friends. He knows his friends are great people, he knows this more than anything, so how can he think so little of them to believe they wouldn’t want to help him out in his time of need.

Akira likes when Dr. Maruki reminds him of this, because it stops his mind from going down the never-ending pit of wondering if he’s good enough. If he’ll ever be whole again. If his friends would accept an ‘Akira’ who wasn’t like the one _before_.

Of course they would accept him. They were the greatest friends he could ever ask for.

Dr. Maruki must sense that he’s gotten through to Akira, because he changes the subject, “Has your friend asked you to help in any cases recently? I remember last time you told me he’s been asking more and more lately.”

Akira smiles again, happy to talk about Goro, like always, “Yeah, we just finished one up recently. It was just as simple as all the others.”

“Does he realize you’ve figured him out?”

Akira chuckles, “I don’t think so.”

He remembers when Goro first started asking for help with his cases. It was a few months after the incident, and a few weeks into his physical therapy. For some reason, Goro had been adamant that he’d needed Akira’s help in a fairly straight-forward case of theft. Akira had been able to solve it from his makeshift hospital bed in his apartment. Since then, at least once a week, Goro would ask for advice on any number of cases, sharing his findings afterward in a pleased manner.

It didn’t take long for Akira to figure it out.

Goro had been trying to involve Akira into his process, as if trying to prove to Akira there was no chance for a misidentification. All the names were spelled out and clear, with the reasons for arrest also being clear and unmistakable. For every case Akira ‘helped’ Goro solve (Akira had no doubt Goro could solve them all on his own), he felt himself grasp a little more control over his situation, as well as prevent another like him from happening.

Akira wishes he could explain to Goro that he didn’t need to continue trying to ‘prove’ himself to Akira. He understood what happened clearly. The police were looking for someone to frame, and Goro was a convenient scapegoat to sign off on the papers. There was no reason for Goro to take all the blame and place it squarely on his own shoulders.

But Akira can’t complain about the amount of time he’s spent with the man because of his misplaced guilt.

“Have you spoken to him about your feelings, yet?”

The question brings a red-hot burning feeling to his face and he sputters while looking anywhere except for Dr. Maruki’s face, “N-no! I—I don’t think that’s a good idea right now, there’s just—” Akira cuts himself off before he babbles incoherently for a not-inconsiderable amount of time, “No, I haven’t.”

Dr. Maruki nods sagely, blessedly ignoring Akira’s temporary break, “Hmm, I see. If you’re worried about your mental state combined with a relationship, I think—”

Akira waves his hands in front of himself to disregard the conversation, “No, no no, I—!” Well, to be honest, it was a worry of his. It wouldn’t be fair to anyone to be in a relationship when he was still so volatile. But, it especially wouldn’t be fair to Goro, who might not even feel the same way, and then the guilt might cause him to accept Akira’s confession without considering his own feelings.

His feelings were something he was ready and willing to take to the grave with him at this point.

As if sensing Akira’s deep reluctance on this problem, Dr. Maruki moves the conversation to a few less existential topics.

An hour passes peacefully like that, with Dr. Maruki calmly working through Akira’s tangled thoughts, and Akira getting his more tense admissions out. When the clock softly chimes at noon, Dr. Maruki’s eyebrows furrow and he gives a truly regretful sigh.

“I’m sorry, Akira-kun. We’ll have to leave it there I’m afraid.”

“That’s okay. I’m really grateful you were able to see me on such short notice, Dr. Maruki.”

Dr. Maruki rises from his seat and Akira does the same. Their height difference is much the same as when he was in high school, where he thought he would possibly one day outgrow his friends and the adults around him.

Hilariously, everyone got a growth spurt except for him.

The two make their way to the door, Dr. Maruki waving off Akira’s thanks.

“It’s not a problem at all, Akira-kun.” Dr. Maruki gives him one last smile before leaving him with his last advice for the day, “Take some time for yourself, Akira-kun. You might be overworking yourself. Your part-time jobs can wait.”

Akira gives him a grateful grin and bows his head in response, “Thank you, Dr. Maruki. I’ll try.”

*

Akira realizes he has the rest of the day to kill after he exits Dr. Maruki’s office. He stares blankly at the sidewalk before abruptly realizing he doesn’t want to be alone with his owns thoughts today. The best type of distraction he can think of, however, comes with a small bit of embarrassment.

Ryuji finds that the perfect time to meet back up with him, it seems, because an arm finds its way around his shoulders (although more delicately than it usually would).

“Hey, Akira, you feeling up for some ramen?” Says the boisterous voice. Akira turns a soft smile his way and pulls his phone out.

“How about some curry instead? I’m thinking of stopping by Leblanc.”

He gets a big nod of approval from Ryuji, but not without his textbook groaning, “God, I hope the curry isn’t spicy today, I barely survived last time.”

He steels his nerves and tries to hide the smile mixed with lingering rawness from therapy and begins a text to Yusuke.

_yusuke? did you still need an assistant?_

The response is speedy. Yusuke is desperate for a model, it seems. Akira chuckles at the thought of a desperate Yusuke thanking the heavens for a pliable model to boss around.

_Akira, I would be delighted if you could placate my need to create._

_Please arrive without delay, I fear Futaba will not let me be if I cannot find a model._

_haha got it_

_be there asap_

_don’t let futaba bully you_

_ryuji and morgana are coming with_

_Anything to make my model happy._

_I shall even deal with Ryuji’s incessant noise._

_he’ll be there to protect my honor_

_(*_ _ﾉω_ _ﾉ)_

_Futaba tells me that face means a blushing maiden._

_Akira, I will never do anything without first courting you sufficiently._

_no yusuke it means shy!_

_i was being sarcastic!!_

_dont trust futaba!!!_

_Sarcasm?_

_Ah, then I am free to ask you to do whatever I please in modeling today?_

_just_

_i never say no anyway_

_but just go easy on me today..._

_It will be done._

_I shall see you soon._

Akira lets Ryuji know Yusuke is expecting them, with Morgana in tow, and the two make their way back to their apartment to pick up a cat and subject themselves to a madman for the remainder of the day.

*

Akira feels his back groan with the strain it takes to hold his position. He inhales sharply and looks to his left, pleading with Ryuji to help him.

Ryuji gives him a smirk back, his legs crossing in the most relaxed stance he can probably think of, mocking Akira for his misfortunes. Akira gives him a flat glare, cursing him and himself for agreeing to be Yusuke’s model.

He’s also cursing his inability to say no to the artist whenever he’s called to do something drastic. It’s a trait that Goro has been trying and failing to break him out of. Akira laughs inwardly when he recalls Goro’s scandalized faces whenever Yusuke asks for something in public, and Akira is honor-bound to comply.

“Please, Akira, your arms must intersect at a ninety-degree angle!” He hears the artist shout behind his easel.

At least Yusuke refrained from asking him to remove his clothes, he thinks grumpily.

“You good with all his clothes on, Inari?”

Fuck you, Ryuji.

“Yes! That is what I need! Akira! Will you do me the honor of removing your shirt?” Akira groans in embarrassment. He thought bringing Ryuji along would protect his honor, but it seems he was mistaken.

However, Ryuji drops both his legs from their relaxed position and looks quickly back to Yusuke, the color draining from his face. Akira feels the embarrassment recede from himself after seeing an opportunity to embarrass someone else. Leave it to Ryuji to suggest something, and then immediately walk it back.

“Yes, Yusuke~, as you wish,” He goes to lift his shirt up.

Ryuji’s high-pitched yelp stops him for a moment, “Wait—waitwait!! No, I was kidding! Aw man, I don’t want to be here anymore!”

Akira laughs in response, but doesn’t stop from lifting his shirt off his body, “You suggested it, Ryuji. Did you want to see my chest that much?”

Ryuji covers his eyes in embarrassment, whining out complaints, “Nooo, I’m gonna get skewered by Akechi, man. You can’t do this to me—it’s entrapment or something,” He moans out. The sudden mention of Goro confuses Akira for a moment.

“What does Goro have to do with me stripping?”

“Oh my god! Yusuke, do you really need Akira to be naked for this?!”

Yusuke doesn’t reply, and when Akira looks to him, he sees the artist’s arm move furiously over the canvas. Although, his attention seems to be focused on an uncomfortable Ryuji. Akira moves to look at the easel and canvas.

Where many sketches of a blushing and uncomfortable Ryuji greet him, in a few very expressive poses.

“Oh, wow Yusuke, this looks really good. Are you doing character studies?”

Ryuji uncovers one eye in confusion, staring at Yusuke and Akira from the other end of the attic. Yusuke ignores Akira and continues furiously moving his arm all over the canvas, bobbing his head up and down from Ryuji to canvas and back again.

“Wha? Why are you both looking at me?” He moves to get up and join the two, but Yusuke suddenly jumps, throwing his arm in a ‘halt’ movement.

“Wait, Ryuji! Your embarrassment, the contour of your uncomfortable body, the way you are throwing yourself all around, this emotion is wonderful!” Yusuke’s eyes sparkle and Akira holds back his uproarious laughter at the look on Ryuji’s face.

He looks as if he wanted to be sick from embarrassment and righteous indignation all at once. “Hold on a sec! I thought Akira was the model for today! How have _I_ been roped into this?!” He screeches, hands held out in a pleading matter.

Akira uses the distraction to slip his shirt back on, the attic’s drafty chill too much for him even if the weather was finally turning warmer. He looks toward the bed to see Morgana sleeping peacefully, and the sight puts a smile on his face. His earlier distress and turmoil has slowly been seeping out of him throughout the day, beaten back by happy friends and caring mentors.

The sound of arguing friends follow him as he slips past Yusuke and makes his way downstairs into the café. Futaba had left before Ryuji and Akira arrived, and had somehow convinced Sojiro to close the shop for the day as well, allowing the chaos upstairs to happen in the first place. He thanks her for it mentally, and goes to prepare some curry for his friends, who are undoubtably working up an appetite while they fight over who was supposed to model.

A few moments later, Morgana joins him, jumping up on the counter like Sojiro has repeatedly told him _not_ to do. The sounds of arguing continue upstairs, and Akira can only guess Morgana was sick of listening to them. He smiles at the thought and works quickly on preparing the curry that had been quietly simmering in the kitchen for the last few hours. No matter how much Sojiro likes to complain about his constant stream of desperate lonely kids, he never fails to prepare for them in all the ways that matter.

Akira smiles at the comforting feeling of family and prepares three plates of slightly spicy curry.

*

The next day, Goro texts him the address to yet another café in Shibuya. Akira is beginning to suspect Goro is showing off his profound knowledge of café locations, like it was a weird flexing exercise.

Akira makes it to the café just as Goro is finishing up interviewing a short, old woman. She nods her head politely and brushes past Akira. He walks over to the table, a small one meant to provide all the witnesses with a sense of freedom or safety should they need to flee. Akira can appreciate the thought Goro puts into his witness testimony interviews.

The man himself puts his head in his hands and rubs at his temple, obviously the lady was not his first witness of the day.

“Already a long day?” He smiles tiredly, sitting beside Goro.

A responding groan sounds out, giving Akira a jolt that he hides well, “You have no idea.”

“What’s the situation this time?”

Goro taps his pen against his notebook and gives a short laugh, “You’ll love it,” He starts, “It’s a bank robbery suspect we’re looking for.”

Akira feels a big grin form on his face. The idea of uncovering a bank robber is exactly what he imagines a detective would do, and he knows Goro knows that, if his attempt to hide a smile means anything.

Goro explains the situation further, “Apparently, a group of wannabe robbers held up a bank last week, but were betrayed at the last second by an unknown within the group. The ones arrested are refusing to give up their comrade—in hopes they can split the cash later, I assume. I deduced the unknown was a witness at the bank, and in order to avoid suspicion they would need to come into an interview. I told all the witnesses I was just going to ask about basic information so I can help build the case in court, but I know you have your uncanny sixth sense when it comes to criminals.”

Akira can’t help his smile getting wider and wider. He prefers to think of it as his ‘third eye’ in spotting things that are slightly _off_. A bank robbery was exactly the type of thing he thought of when imagining a detective scenario. The fact that he could solve the case with Goro was absolutely fantastic.

“So, all I want from you is to sit there quietly and be my little helper while I interview suspe—I mean witnesses.” Goro purposefully mistakes, smirking in Akira’s direction.

Akira gives him a mock salute and teasingly responds, “Yes, senpai, I promise to be a good boy.”

He expects the glare and only grins in response when he receives it.

*

The witnesses come in one after another after that. Normally, Goro would give each witness a few hours to go over every detail of the scene to find anything he can pick apart and investigate, but since this session is for picking out any suspicious individuals, the short time frame works perfectly.

The faster the witnesses have to account for every second of the scene, the more likely they are to mess up. For the first dozen, all the accounts line up. Two robbers rush in, the teller throws the money in the provided bags, and while the first robber is intimidating the other patrons, the store is raided by the police, who had been tipped off ten minutes earlier.

The robbery was supposedly thwarted, but somehow two million yen had been missing.

Every witness so far had been innocent, as far as Goro had concerned himself with. In between witnesses Goro explains that the least suspicious people focused extensively on their fear and emotions during the conflict, and anyone who could recall actual events was the most suspicious in his eyes.

So, after almost a dozen people had come and go, it was almost a relief when a young man walks in and immediately sets off Akira’s instincts. He straightens in his seat and leans over to whisper in Goro’s ear before the man can make it to their table.

_“Goro, this guy—he’s got bad vibes.”_

Goro tenses slightly, Akira assumes it’s because of the information, and his eyes shift to look at Akira. “Bad vibes are not admissible in court.”

Akira leans back and shrugs in response.

The man sits across from the two of them and recounts the events, much like everyone before him. And just like the others, he goes over his emotions and feelings during the conflict, even going as far as to admit all he could remember was the brand of the robbers shoes because he couldn’t look up. Even with the guys innocent routine, Akira’s instincts don’t stop screaming at him.

_This guy is suspicious, this guy is suspicious_ , they chant.

Goro must notice Akira’s tense shoulders, because he wraps up the interview quickly, but not before carefully making note of the man’s name.

The man leaves, meekly and unassumedly, and Goro sets his pen down to give Akira his full attention.

“Alright, why was that man suspicious to you?” He asks, eyebrows rising in a challenge. He likely wants Akira to go into some long diatribe as to why the man was suspect, but Akira doesn’t have anything for him.

“Look,” He begins, which is how all confident people start sentences, he’s sure, “I got nothing. All I’ve got is the bad vibes he was giving off.”

Goro leans back for a moment, eyeing Akira like he can see right through him. Akira wonders if he can, sometimes.

“Hmm, lucky for you that was our last witness, and no one else comes remotely close in suspicion.” He responds as if the situation is completely inconsequential to him.

Akira grins in Goro’s direction, knowing he plans on investigating the guy regardless of his lack of concrete suspicion about him.

“You sure put a lot of trust in my opinion, what if my suspicions are totally useless?” He teases.

Goro surprises him with a serious look in his direction, “I know you wouldn’t tell me about this if you weren’t sure about it. Casting doubt on another person who’s been caught in the police’s web—it’s not something you would do if you had doubts.”

Akira falls silent at the way Goro has him figured out. He supposes if he has Goro figured out on the reason why he shares these case, the reverse could also be true. Goro notices the way he deals with these cases; delicately, and with an emphasis on catching people in the act, or careful investigation.

Goro straightens and starts gathering his materials into his briefcase, “Now that that’s over, how about I walk you back to your apartment? I have to file some of these interviews, so I’m afraid we can’t spend any more time today.”

Even though the thought of Goro not being able to spend any more time with him today is disheartening, the thought that he wants to walk him home is enough to get him happy in spite of that.

The two exit the café, peacefully walking beside each other. Akira mentions the new Featherman episode they’re supposed to watch soon (after Goro’s cases caused him to skip their get together over the weekend), and Goro gives his own opinions on how the story might go. He mentions how annoyed he still is over the villain reveal, and Akira revels in his disgruntled look.

When they make it Akira’s neighborhood, Goro suddenly turns apprehensive. He starts to give shorter answers, looks conflicted, and Akira can’t figure out what happened to make him so withdrawn all of a sudden.

Then, Goro suddenly stops and turns a serious look onto Akira.

He can’t help but be intimidated by the look, since he so often sees it thrown at other less innocent—or more annoying—bystanders, but rarely directed at himself. The look is accompanied by a hand on Akira’s arm, and Akira thinks he may have murdered someone unknowingly if he’s getting the one-two punch of look and touch. Goro is getting set to pile-drive him, he’s almost ninety percent certain.

“Akira.” Oh boy, Akira shivers in anticipation. He fucked up somewhere. “I wanted to warn you of a case that’s being floated by the higher-ups in the police department.”

Akira feels some of the tension from the ‘is Goro mad at me’ fear response dissipate and coalesce into the ‘are the police mad at me’ fear response. Goro must sense Akira’s dread, because he quickly elaborates.

“ _NOT_ involving you.” Okay. Good. “There was a body found over the weekend. There’s a murder case on the horizon.” Okay. Bad. “The police have no leads, so I expect the case will be ‘outsourced’ to me soon enough.”

Akira is silent for a few moments, waiting for Goro to explain how this relates to him, with whatever warning that Goro has to give him.

His silent question is answered soon enough, “The body belonged to a young man, early twenties, with dark hair.” Goro looks directly into his eyes, “Please. Try not to be alone, at least for a little while.”

A weak chuckle escapes Akira, “I fit the MO?”

“Maybe. I can’t answer any more questions, but you are a trouble magnet,” Goro scoffs humorlessly, “This is one trouble I am ready to beg you not to get involved in.”

Akira nods in acceptance. Even at his worst, he doesn’t think he would throw himself into a _murder investigation_ just to get a dinner out of Goro. He doesn’t quite blame Goro for being worried though. Their high school days were full of Akira throwing himself into situations with crazy adults, and only escaping because of a group effort to unmask them. The mob boss debacle was probably the worst, and the one Goro has a habit of bringing up the most frequently.

_Not like it matters_ , Akira thinks, _the guy was found out in the end, and Makoto and I got away._

Regardless, Akira is willing to be obedient when Goro looks so incredibly frustrated and worried. It’s an expression that Akira can’t help but feel possessive over. He knows he and Goro have a special friendship that only the two of them can really understand, and Akira knows he’s one of the only people Goro feels so passionately about.

Whether it’s because he’s Goro’s first friend, or it stems from his guilt, Akira would rather not speculate. He can only take a dark pleasure in basking in the attention, and bite back the jealously if and when that attention is eventually directed at someone else.

“Can I get a spoken promise from you?” Goro’s voice drags him out of his mind. He turns to Goro, who is looking at him like he can’t quite be trusted with his own safety. He realizes the man is waiting for an answer.

“Yeah... I promise, Goro, I won’t go anywhere alone anytime soon. And that I won’t go looking for this guy.”

Goro gives a large sigh of relief, and Akira smiles in response. “I’m going to take your suspicions about that man to the higher-ups tomorrow to see what they say—”

“Make sure to mention the bad vibes—”

“ _And_ _then_ I will probably receive more information about that case,” Goro ignores him.

Akira snickers and moves on for Goro’s benefit, “Okay. I’m probably going over to Makoto and Haru’s tomorrow. Makoto says she has some new reformations she wants to run by me. As if I know anything about reform.”

Goro hums in response.

The two continue walking along the backstreets, and Akira figures this walk must be because Goro wanted to take him home personally and minimize him being alone.

And doesn’t that just send Akira straight to his own personal heaven/hell hybrid, where Goro is intensely sweet and gentle, but the actions might be tainted with guilt and hatred toward himself.

He shakes the thoughts from his head. Assuming Goro’s feelings in this matter is exactly the thing he shouldn’t be doing. If he overthinks everything, he won’t be able to appreciate what’s in front of him.

And seeing the smile on Goro’s face as he leaves Akira to walk into his apartment, he wants to make sure he appreciates everything he has now.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> thank you for all the support guys, it really means a lot to me, :)


	4. The Case of the Bank (Part 2)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Akira hangs out with Haru and Makoto, and then everyone comes to play. However, someone has something to admit.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hey guys, let’s chill this chapter, -u-

When Akira thinks of the perfect couple, Haru and Makoto easily come to mind.

In high school the two were inseparable as part of the group, but hardly best friends. Makoto was too obsessed with her position as student council president, and Haru was dealing with the fallout of her corrupt father being arrested and charged. Everyone in their group was close, but outside of the group, connections were slightly more difficult.

That changed drastically in university. Makoto went for policing and Haru went for business, and the two bonded over their fathers leaving behind a tearful legacy, even if they were highly different circumstances.

And of course, Akira had to hear every last detail of their two-year long pining fest. He had to remind himself constantly back then to deal with it in the same way he assumes they all dealt with his pining for Goro.

The day the two finally got together, Akira had thrown them an impromptu party immediately afterward, ecstatic to get the secrets out and be set free from being the go-between for them.

Things weren’t perfect, obviously no relationship ever was, but Haru and Makoto were the best fit for each other, and their everyday interactions displayed that prominently.

And now the two have to play soundboard for his (lack of) relationship woes with Goro all over again.

“Akira, how does this contract sound? It lessens responsibility for the police and transfers that budget and power to trained medical health experts instead. Haru ran some of the numbers into a spreadsheet and found it could reduce police brutality by up to forty-two percent.” He stares blankly at Makoto.

“Makoto. I swear, no matter what you think, I did not go to university, let alone major in police reform.”

Makoto gives him an alarmed look, “Oh no, of course not, I was just trying to gauge if you think this is a reasonable issue for me to tackle next.”

Akira gives her a small genuine smile, “I think everything you’re doing is great,” And he puts as much sincerity as he can in the statement. He then pauses just enough to consider his next words before deciding to just go through with it, “And I think you don’t need to try and make anything up to me.”

Makoto sighs in defeat slightly and gives a side smile to Akira, “I… know. But I just…” She takes a deep breath and jumps to her feet to stretch her arms, “How about we see what Haru is up to?”

Akira takes the subject change for what it is and follows her to the kitchen.

The second Akira sees Haru, he knows she was eavesdropping on their conversation in the living room. He has to hold in a smile at her extremely bad acting as she frantically runs to the refrigerator and pulls out as many food items as she is able. Absolutely none of them will go together.

On the dining table, Morgana lifts his head briefly to stare at Haru in curiosity, but upon realizing none of the food will be going to him, resumes his sleeping position. Akira is known for taking Morgana everywhere with him, but he always seems most at peace with Haru nearby.

“Um! Yes, what will we be having for dinner? I didn’t think to prep anything, so this may be awhile!” She stutters, and Makoto must decide to take pity on her because she sighs in affection.

“How about we order some take-out, Haru? Akira looks like he’ll fall asleep if he has to wait for food to cook.”

Haru nods slightly, giving Akira a look of her own. “Yes, he does look tired. Have you been over-working yourself again, Akira?”

Akira blinks in surprise. Did he look tired? “No?” He confusedly replies. Which... may be a lie. He’s been working at Rafflesia every day he can this week and working at Crossroads at night if Lala-chan asks, but he thinks he’s been good about staying in contact with everyone. Whenever someone has something they need to get off their chest, Akira is the first to respond, so he’s sure he’s doing okay.

Makoto and Haru look at him in sync, then give each other a look. They must be speaking in secret couples language, Akira grumbles to himself.

Makoto walks toward Akira, gently pushing him back to the living room. “How about you wait on the couch while we get food sorted out.” She says, successfully steering him over and down onto the comfy couch cushions. He supposes it’s a perk of being two successful adults, because Haru and Makoto have a beautiful well-furnished place with only the comfiest of couches.

“Ahh, okay. But I still want to hear more about your plans and Haru’s business... Even if I can’t help all that much,” He rubs the back of his neck sheepishly.

Makoto _hmm_ ’s and stares at Akira a moment longer than he thinks is normal. Just before he goes to ask what she wants to say, Makoto turns to leave the room.

She doesn’t leave without the last word though, which is such a Makoto move he can’t help but smile, “Just relax for a bit, Akira. I’ll be back once we order dinner.”

Akira nods in acceptance, and snuggles into the couch a little further. It really was a comfy couch.

*

The sound of quiet arguing has Akira slowly crawling back into awareness. He feels a soft blanket on top of him and a soft couch below him, one of those things he could swear was not there when he was awake.

Come to think of it, when did he fall asleep? He remembers talking with Makoto, trying to prove he wasn’t overworked, and then nothing. Did his body decide to prove them right despite his denials?

It seems that way, since he has to fight the aftereffects of sleep to open his eyes once more. He doesn’t feel like moving the rest of his body to become fully awake, content to try and understand what woke him before he does.

“All I’m saying is, he’d love to watch this Featherman movie when he wakes up, it could be a great rank-up experience,” A voice he recognizes implores.

“While you may be right, Futaba, maybe we should ask him when he wakes?” A more mature voice responds.

“Don’t buy this! She’s just saying what she wants to watch.” A man trying and failing to keep his voice down argues.

The arguments go on for a little longer and Akira feels himself dozing off once more with the familiar warmness of them all.

Of course, his gradual descent back into dreamland is interrupted by a voice he couldn’t ignore even if he wanted to.

“As entertaining as this argument seems, I think I’ll pass on participating. Am I to assume he’s in the living room?”

“Ah, Akechi-kun, maybe we should wait until he wakes? He’s sleeping peacefully right now...” A soft voice, Haru, says.

“I assure you; I will not waken him. I simply want to see him.”

“Um... okay,” She concedes.

Goro doesn’t seem to respond, and Akira relaxes himself as much as he can. He’s not sure why he doesn’t just say he woke up and greet Goro, but he knows he wants just a few more moments of peace.

Quiet footsteps enter the room Akira assumes is the living room and grow closer to him. Goro must spot him because the steps cease and then grow closer still, coming to a stop near him judging by the noise.

Warm fingers graze his cheek for a moment and quickly pull away as a quiet voice mutters, “Defenseless as always.” A sigh follows the words, and Akira can’t bring himself to keep the ruse up much longer.

He exaggerates a furrowing of his eyes and sucks in a little more air than necessary, signaling to Goro that he is ‘waking’ up’. He blinks his eyes slightly to see Goro staring down at him.

The sight still makes him jump slightly, even though he knew the man was there.

“G-goro! What—?”

“Ah. I’ll be in trouble with Haru for waking you, I guess.” He muses, not sounding at all like a man with remorse.

“What are you doing here?” He asks, then takes a moment to reevaluate, “Wait, I’m still at Haru and Makoto’s, yeah?”

A nod answers him. Goro crosses his arms and sends a chilling smirk to Akira. The sight of the smirk makes a warmth settle into his bones. “Yes. The gangs all here. There was an emergency text in the group chat, accompanied by a picture of you sleeping. I figured it was just a call for ‘family bonding’ as you all seem to call it, but I wanted to come along in case someone decided to prank you while you were sleeping.”

Akira smiles at him, “To participate in the pranks?”

A scoff, “To save you, idiot.”

He giggles slightly at the admission. He reaches out to grab his glasses and move himself into a sitting position so he can get up from the couch, but a hand in front of his face stops him.

Goro’s hand, palm up, lingers in the air as Akira stares at the offering. He grows slightly agitated at Akira’s lack of response, but before he can rescind the offer, Akira grabs onto it with both hands.

“Thanks, Goro.”

A blush is his answer, and Akira feels himself being lifted into a standing position. He doesn’t immediately let go of the hand though, and gives it a slight squeeze. Goro looks back at Akira in question, and Akira gives him a warm smile.

“It’s good to see you,” He says, “Will you escort me to the den?”

Goro sighs, but doesn’t dislodge their hands (a win for Akira, who cheers in his own head). “Sure, let’s go.” Goro squeezes back, and the two let their hands drop.

The two make their way out of the living room and into the other room which sports a TV and all their loud friends, still arguing over movie choices.

Akira rubs the lingering sleepiness from his eyes under his glasses as he takes in the sight of all of his friends packed into the den. Usually Makoto and Haru’s house seems vast and capable of hosting any multitude of people, but their group of nine plus a cat seem to fill out the space with barely room to spare.

Futaba is the first to spot him, but the others aren’t far behind. Goro must sense Futaba’s chaotic energy, because he takes a step back right when she launches herself straight at him.

“Akira!” Is shouted, and, before he can brace himself, a body lands on him, almost toppling him. His balance is completely thrown off and the only reason she doesn’t immediately send him into an early grave via crushing is because a pair of hands steadies him from behind.

He wraps his arms around Futaba in greeting and looks up from his precarious position half-fallen to see an annoyed Goro glaring at everything except Akira.

“Ah ha, thanks Goro,” He smiles, “Futaba must be trying to kill me, so it’s nice to know you’ll be my knight in shining armor.”

It must be the wrong think to say, because the hands move, and he falls to the floor with an _oof_.

“Ack! I’m collateral damage?” He hears Futaba yelp above him. He closes his eyes and thinks maybe it’s a fine idea to just fall asleep right here. The embarrassment and exhaustion envelop him all at once.

“Oh! Akira!” He hears multiple people scramble from the den, making their way over to him. Sumire is nice enough to just check over Futaba, leaving him to his misery. He keeps his eyes closed in hopes of fooling them into thinking he fell right back to sleep.

No such luck when the Detective Prince is around, “He’s fine. Just wallowing in his uncoordinated embarrassment, I would guess.”

Akira groans and opens one eye to glare at him, “You sabotaged me. I thought you wouldn’t let me fall.”

A smirk greets him, “Now where did you get an idea like that?”

Futaba, who has yet to remove herself from on top of him and has instead wrapped her arms around him in a bear hug, scoffs, “You’re not fooling anyone, buster. Just accept your role as one of main-character-Akira’s otome harem members just like the rest of us have.”

Goro sputters in protest (which is an amazing sight, in Akira’s humble opinion) while Ryuji and Ann assist Akira into a seated position. Akira decides to ignore whatever Futaba said, too tired to parse the meaning of her ‘gaming words’ (he can almost feel the judgment in his own head, sorry Futaba, he only knows whatever shooter game that gets put in front of him).

“Hey bro, you in the mood for some family movie night?”

“We have an amazing movie picked out for you; Futaba says you’ve been excited for it?” The two trill on either side of him.

Akira furrows his eyebrows. A movie he’s been excited for? He looks toward a grinning Futaba still wrapped around him. “What movie?”

“Only the ultra-rare, ultra-exclusive, Phoenix Ranger Featherman R: The Movie!” She exclaims, and Akira gasps in astonishment.

“Futaba!!” He yells in delight. He knows intensely how rare and unheard of it was to get hands on the unpublished, not released reboot movie from the older generation. He’d been trying for at least half a decade to find _rumors_ of the movie, “You’re not kidding right? It’s the actual movie?” He asks, ready for disappointment. It seems too good to be true.

He’s too excited to even let the confused faces of his friends in the background get him down. He swears he’s talked about this before, but they could’ve easily tuned him out. He tilts his head up to see Goro’s face, sure he’s just as excited.

Goro looks highly skeptical, eyes narrowed on Futaba’s ecstatic face. Akira inwardly chuckles at his mistrust.

“Of course it’s legit!” Futaba scrambles off him to dig a USB out of the pouch at her hip, “This is it, the Holy Grail!” She holds the USB up like it’s about to give them some sort of divine judgement.

Akira chuckles at her excitement even as he feels himself become giddy with anticipation.

Haru announces that the food will be there when the movie concludes, and the gang moves back to the den.

Goro settles on the couch, using his normal untouchable air to secure the high-value placement. Haru and Makoto settle on his right side with no complaining from anyone because of their value as the hosts of the impromptu party. Yusuke sits demurely on the loveseat to the left of the couch, a focused look on his face. Akira assumes he wants to give the movie his complete attention, as if wondering what the fuss was for Featherman in general.

Ann and Ryuji drag Akira down with them onto the floor directly in front of the couch. Futaba settles herself on Akira’s right side and Sumire settles on his left, effectively pushing Ann and Ryuji out of the way. Both of them scoff in unison, seemingly betrayed by the actions, but unable to fight back under the watchful gaze of Akira (who may be developing a big brother complex... five years ago when he first met Futaba). They settle for laying down in front of Akira. Morgana must decide he’s too good for family bonding, because he isn’t even seen in the den.

Akira tilts his head back to lock eyes with Goro, and gives a small excited smile. Goro returns it with his own slight uptick of the lips.

“Okay, are we all settled in?” Haru asks, holding the remote in anticipation.

A series of positives sound off.

“And we all agree to not talk during the movie?” Makoto continues, and Akira feels the glare directed at all of them.

Silence greets this ask, and Makoto sighs in dismay.

Haru giggles, “Then let the adventure begin~.” She presses play on the movie, and the chaos begins.

*

Fifteen minutes into the film is when the first offender speaks.

“Why is the main character so mean?” Akira whines after the fifth time the leader of the Ranger team responds to a genuine ask with ‘I don’t care’.

The first offender is him, but he thinks it’s a perfectly reasonable ask.

“He’s the leader, and that’s how they make him cool.” Ryuji whispers back, “I think Yellow should be leader anyway, he’s way cooler.”

“As if, Ryuji,” Ann grumbles, “White deserves to be leader since she’s been on this team the longest, apparently,” Ann pauses, “And she deserves to have a girlfriend, too. Is Pink gay in this reboot?”

Makoto tries to shush them, but Goro ignores her to whisper to Akira, “This reboot is much grittier and darker than the current iterations…”

Akira looks back with the saddest eyes he can muster, “I knoow, I miss the happy.”

Goro shorts at him, “No, this is great. We needed a dark Featherman,” He eyes Akira, “And there’s plenty of happy. They’re literally going on a beach trip right now.”

“That’s just because White feels bad for lying to everyone. Still depressing.”

Haru interjects slightly, and Akira sees Makoto bury her head in her hands for a moment, “I think White just wants to bankroll the team. Hehe, she’s my favorite, so far.”

Ann adds to the conversation, “She wants to get back on Pink’s good side. I’m telling you; this is gay.”

Akira _hmm_ ’s in agreement, “Yeah, I agree, just look at Blue. They know what they’re doing.”

“Don’t tell me you’re into Blue just because of his beach outfit,” Goro groans.

“Okay, then I won’t tell you,” But Akira can’t help but add, “I also like how tough he is.”

Futaba speaks up from next to him, “Ann, I think White has competition in Green. Don’t underestimate the allure of the wallflower type.”

“How dare you, Futaba.”

Sumire grumbles, “When will they go back to the fights? I want to see the choreo.”

“Can we _please_ stay _slightly_ quiet, especially when plot is happening? Silver just joined the team and I think you all missed it.”

A telling silence lingers in the air.

Interrupted by, “This art style is inspired.”

Akira can’t hide his snort, and buries his head in his pulled-up knees to muffle the laughter.

“Oh yeah? Is it the heavy atmosphere that does it for you?” Goro responds.

“Yes, the juxtaposition of a team of good meaning vigilantes using the power of friendship to eliminate a hoard of monsters that steal the positive feelings of their victims… it’s a teetering relationship that can backfire so easily. How inspired,” Yusuke explains, reaching over to grab his sketchbook.

“Yusuke, you always have the best insight.” Akira laughs, laying his head sideways on his knees to stare at him.

He yelps when a kick connects with his back, knocking him forward slightly. He’s only saved from falling face first into the floor by his legs that were folded in front of him.

He rubs his back and turns to pout at Goro, “What was that for?”

“You’re ignoring the movie, idiot. Blue’s friend just joined.”

His attention is grabbed by the movie once more. Sure enough, the Rangers have rapidly acquired almost the full team, plus a dog.

Makoto makes an annoyed noise, “How did they train this dog to hold a knife in his mouth?”

Ryuji scoffs, “For real, _that’s_ the disbelief breaker for you?”

“I just want to know, in case Haru and I want to acquire a dog ourselves.”

Ryuji pauses, and Sumire fills the gap in conversation, “Oh! The fights are starting up again. Wow, White is so graceful, like a dancer.”

“Do you want to add Featherman fights into you choreo, Sumire?” Futaba whispers across Akira.

“M-maybe,” She stutters back, a blush on her face, “You seem to like the series so much, Futaba-senpai, and I want to incorporate that into my routines.”

Akira leans back to stay out of their hushed flirty conversation. He wishes the two could’ve gathered enough courage to just sit together instead of using Akira as a buffer like this. He leans back far enough that his back connects with the body sitting on the couch behind him. He sends an apologetic glance upwards, hoping Goro won’t kick him away and subject him to his fate.

Instead, Goro is looking down at him intensely, as if processing what Akira was doing.

A loud noise from the TV catches both of their attention, and Akira jerks his head forward to see the massive battle the Rangers are fighting in. The battle seems like it’ll be most of the movie, if the constant shifts to fighting, then character building are to be believed.

“Pink and White, Pink and White, Pink and White,” Ann chants from the front, intensely focused on the two characters aiding each other.

“This can’t be the final battle, right?” Ryuji whispers, “There’s still like forty minutes left!”

“Shhh!” Makoto frets, concentrated on the battle.

“It can’t be,” Haru seems most confident Makoto won’t scold her since she doesn’t bother to silence herself, “I bet there’s a twist with these monsters.”

It turns out Haru is correct, and the nature of the movie turns intensely dark as the characters face a powerful world-ending enemy.

The movie becomes immersive enough that there is almost no talking for the remainder of the movie as it picks up momentum with every Ranger getting a death scare in. He hears Ann gasp in delight when White takes a blow and Pink jumps in to protect her, but other than that the room is deathly silent.

Even Goro, the master of breaking tension with a poorly-timed joke, is silent in deep concentration.

Then, the villain is defeated by Red sacrificing his life to save the world, and Akira feels his heart break at the cost.

However, he fully expects the Ranger to come back to life in the final moments, he refuses to believe such a sad ending to be the actual end.

But the scene cuts out, and right after, the credits roll. Akira feels as if his jaw will never come off the ground.

“That’s… it?” He hears from above him.

Haru _aww_ ’s quietly, “That’s a sad ending.”

The others start to sound off their agreement, but Akira can’t take it.

“No!” He loudly exclaims, “That can’t be the end! Red can’t just die like that!”

Instead of the sympathetic faces of his friends, he only gets pleased faces.

Behind him, a voice chuckles at his despair, “I see you warmed up to Red in the end.”

His whines grow louder, “How are you okay with Red dying? It’s too sad!”

Futaba gives him a hug from the side, “Don’t cry, Akira! It’s what Red wanted in the end, to save his friends. He’s a good bean.” Ann turns to Haru to discuss White and Pink, while Sumire tries to separate Yusuke from his sketchbook.

Akira can feel his sadness try to manifest itself and it takes everything in him to hold back his sniffles. He swears he’s not about to cry over a fictional character’s death.

“I k-know.” Fuck. A hiccup in his voice causes every head to swivel back in his direction, and he doesn’t even get one second before he’s buried under a pile of bodies.

“No, Akira!”

“Don’t cry! Don’t cry!”

“Red’s probably fine! Didn’t Silver say she would find him?”

“Yeah! The other Rangers will get him back! Silver is too stubborn to let him go!”

“Akira, the luminous art style is symbolic, the light at the end signifies a greater purpose. Red is watching over the others peacefully.”

Akira pries himself slightly out of the pile, only managing to dislodge his head free, and looks to Goro for help. Goro simply looks back at him with a smile. “Don’t worry, Akira. I will never let you die for us.” The sentiment is incredibly sweet until Goro continues, “I’ll kill you before you can.”

Alright. He guesses Goro being an asshole is a sure-fire way to cheer him up, because he laughs slightly at the jab.

A doorbell ringing springs Haru into action and she calls for the group to gather in the dining room if they want to be fed tonight.

It’s almost comical how fast the mass of bodies on top of him (attempting to give comfort) disperse, leaving him just laying on the floor with a smug Goro watching over him.

“If I’d known how emotional you would get over Red’s death, I would’ve informed you earlier.”

“You knew?”

“Of course. I know about the statuses of all the Red’s in every Featherman series.” He pauses, “Even if I never knew the circumstances, I knew Red would die.”

“Isn’t that sad?”

“Hm, maybe. He was happy, though. Shouldn’t we respect that?”

Akira furrows his brows. “What about those around him? They didn’t seem happy. I’m not happy.”

“No, I suppose you’re not.”

A pause from both of them. Akira’s not sure why the death has shaken him so badly. He feels an emptiness inside him that isn’t comparable to real life tragedies by any means, but affects him in a subtle way that he knows will sneak up on him when he’s not expecting it. A happy death. It feels meaningless.

He stares at Goro, willing him to see things from his perspective.

As always, Goro stares back, imploring the same.

This was why they were the perfect rivals, Akira thinks, always challenging one another.

A voice calls from the dining room, and Goro helps Akira up from the floor to join them.

*

Not long after the movie concludes and everyone finishes off the remainder of take-out, Akira announces he needs to get back home. He explains he has work in the morning and doesn’t want to be late.

Goro immediately jumps at the chance to leave as well, and Akira understands how overwhelmed he must be feeling. It’s not often they can convince Goro to join in on family bonding, and when he does, his energy runs out far faster than anyone else’s.

Akira is just touched he stuck around as long as he did.

The two say their goodbyes (with Ryuji promising to take Morgana back with him when he leaves seeing as how the cat has attached himself to Ann) and head out toward the station.

“I have an update for you. Regarding the bank robbery,” Goro starts, grabbing Akira’s attention instantly.

“Oh yeah? What’s the verdict? You catch someone?”

“As a matter of fact, we have arrested the culprits.”

“Culprits? Plural?”

“Yes. Your ‘bad vibes’ are pretty accurate, as it turns out.”

Akira can’t help the big smile that bursts through his sleepy demeanor, “Yeah? You’re not teasing me, are you?”

A soft chuckle, “No. Your instincts are unparalleled. He was our guy, and his accomplice was one of the bank tellers. He confessed when I brought up my suspicions of her.”

“Oooh, betrayal by secret lovers?”

“Seems so. He agreed to be the brains of the operation, but hatched a plan with his girlfriend, the bank teller, to let the others take the fall while she took the money. He even called the police to report the robbery anonymously beforehand because he wanted them to be caught.”

“They really didn’t expect the other robbers to rat him out?”

“It wouldn’t have mattered if they did. Without knowing there was an unknown insider, the man had the perfect alibi. We would’ve investigated, like I did in the witness testimonies, and concluded there was nothing suspicious enough about the man to warrant further investigation.”

“Wow. He almost got away with it, huh?”

Goro chuckles and looks to Akira with a soft smile that makes him feel warm, “If not for your impeccable instincts, he might’ve.”

The two melt into a comfortable silence. Akira can feel his contentment at a job well done seep into his bones as they make their way to the station underground. They’re slightly early for Akira’s train, so they look for an empty bench. It late enough that they get lucky enough to find one and they settle in comfortably.

Akira can feel himself drifting in and out of awareness because of how sleepy he is and decides engaging Goro in conversation is his best bet to staying awake.

“Did you get any more info on that murder case?” He asks, aware of the way Goro tenses slightly.

“Ah. Yes, slightly,” Goro pauses and turns his attention onto Akira fully, “Actually, I’m glad you brought it up. I was going to ask you to avoid Shibuya’s Central Street and Underground for a little while.”

Akira blinks at the information. To be honest, he wasn’t expecting Goro to give him any info, judging by his stern words the previous day.

He answers quickly before the worried look on Goro’s face becomes an angry one at being ignored, “Okay. Can do.” He’ll have to only work at Crossroads or Leblanc for the time being. Not a big deal, since he misses Sojiro all the time. Thankfully his work tomorrow was at Leblanc, so he doesn’t have to cancel. He finishes his promise with a large yawn, immediately taking Goro’s face from stern to relaxed.

“Here, lean on my shoulder before you pass out.” He says, scooting closer to Akira.

He gladly takes advantage of the offer, turning himself to be in the ideal position to rest.

Goro isn’t done extracting promises from him, however, as he continues, “Will you promise you’ll text me when you arrive home?”

Akira nods sleepily and rests his head on Goro’s shoulder. He can feel Goro adjusting so the angle isn’t awkward, and he chuckles in response. The subtle care Goro gives him is beyond anything he could ask for. Every gesture or word of praise and Akira can feel his bones melt into a puddle of happiness. Those gestures are hard fought for and hard won, and his connection with Goro is something he never thought he could have for himself.

A deep rumble from Goro draws his attention. He cracks open his eyes that he hadn’t realized he’d closed to see Goro’s jaw moving. He’s been talking and Akira had completely tuned him out by relaxing so deeply on his shoulder.

“’m sorry, wha’ you say?” He mumbles.

A deep chuckle responds, “I just said feel free to doze. I will wake you when your train arrives.”

Akira closes his eyes again with a content sigh. As much as he wants to spend the next hundred years without wasting a second speaking with Goro, he is exhausted. He thinks maybe he should take Makoto, Haru, and Dr. Maruki seriously when they say he is over-worked.

The thought is best saved for tomorrow, he decides, before voicing his thanks, “I love you, Goro.”

The shoulder Akira is leaning on tenses sodramatically, he thinks something is happening at the station. Akira opens his eyes and lifts his head to peer curiously around them before turning his head to look questioningly at Goro.

Only to find Goro staring at him with the widest eyes he’s ever seen, his mouth hanging open in astonishment.

Akira mentally replays the last few minutes in his head.

He feels the color drain from his body, head to toe. The world narrows in at this one point, and Akira is sure he can hear the sound of his thundering heart picking up it’s pace. It’s fight or flight time, and Akira quickly makes his decision.

He decides walking (running) home is the better option. Goro opens his mouth to say something, and Akira abruptly realizes he would rather do anything else than get rejected right now.

“Uh, I just realized, Goro, that I’m late for—everything!” He notices Goro open his mouth to protest once more and he quickly cuts him off again, “Don’t bother convincing me to stay, I must go!”

He feels his feet shuffle back as he talks, eyes darting in all directions except for the direction in front of him, and he turns as quickly as possible down the nearest back alley.

Goro may be a detective originally from Tokyo, but Akira’s an alley cat by nature. He knows the backstreets better than anyone, and he takes pride in that.

“ _Akira!!_ ” He hears the distant mangled shout of his name, but he’s already committed to outrunning his problems at this point.

After thirty minutes of almost non-stop running, and a few close calls that he’s _sure_ were not Goro, but _who knows_ and _he can’t take any chances_ , he makes it home in record time.

He throws open the door, locking it and, thanking everything holy that their locks had to be changed recently so Goro no longer has a spare key, he runs to his bedroom to throw himself onto his bed.

Thinking quickly, he also turns his phone fully off and grabs a pillow to commence screaming.

He’s never felt more like a complete idiot and a total failure. He might’ve been able to play it off if he’d stayed. Running away immediately basically confirms he said what he said and meant it.

It could be three minutes or three hours later, but Akira hears the front door open and then shut while a person makes their way down the hallway to his room. He burrows himself deeper in the blankets, hoping beyond hope Goro hasn’t figured out how to silently break in and stalk him to his room.

Well, he definitely has, but Akira hopes he’s not utilizing those skills right now.

“Akira? You home, dude?” His door creaks open, and Morgana jumps onto his bed, settling in easily.

He lets Ryuji know he’s present by giving an extremely loud groan.

“Alright, dude, got it. Also, is your phone out of battery or something? Akechi’s been texting the group chat non-stop asking about you. He totally threatened me into checking up on you.”

He lets out another loud groan, hoping it can serve as an appropriate answer.

“Uh... I’ll just say you got home safely.”

He can’t be bothered to give another groan.

He decides suffocating himself with his pillow is the more reasonable action.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> remember when i said to chill? just kidding, let’s freak out
> 
> my @ on twitter is @soulfishie if you want to yell at me :3c


	5. The Case of the Wrong Place...

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Akira tries his hand at ghosting the love of his life, gets advice from multiple people, and gets a kick in his good sense from his apparent harem.
> 
> Ultimately, not a great couple of days.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> thank you for freaking out with me last week, it was very fun, :'))

Akira thinks he should become a professional problem dodger.

It’s been two days since his brush with death (accidently confessing to the most important person to him, and then his mad dash to escape whatever issues that would cause) and he’s in no better position to handle the issue than he was the second he let the truth slip.

He’d spent the last two days avoiding Goro as best he can, ignoring texts and calls, and even bunking the last two nights with Yusuke in the attic of Leblanc, just in case Goro invaded his apartment to try and start the _talk_.

He’d made it home in the early morning today, eager to see Ryuji after ditching him the first day after hurriedly explaining the dire situation (to which he’d only gotten a look of complete exasperation, very rude, in Akira’s opinion), and to see Morgana who quickly went back to sleep after confirming Akira was not dead.

Very ungrateful cat, very rude, but he hadn’t expected anything better. So in retaliation, he had proceeded to cuddle him aggressively.

“Uh dude, I think Akechi’s on his way here right now.” Ryuji drops the bomb twenty minutes into Akira having a relatively better morning than the last two mornings have been. He was planning on avoiding his problems at home today, too sure Goro would assume he wouldn’t have chosen his apartment to hide, since it was too obvious.

Apparently, according to Ryuji’s inside info, that plan was gone, and his blood pressure increases to dangerous levels.

He grabs Ryuji by the shoulders and connects their eyes, “Are you sure?! He’s coming here now?”

Ryuji looks slightly taken aback by the aggressive gesture, and Akira would feel bad, but he knows he told Ryuji what had happened the other day and stressed how _world-ending_ the situation was. He’s unsure why Ryuji wasn’t treating it like the apocalyptic event that it is.

“Y-yeah! Ann just texted me, see?” Ryuji shows his phone screen to Akira, and he grabs the phone like it’s his last lifeline.

** Ann **

_goro is pissed_

_i told him akira would try and outsmart him_

_and stay at home_

_hehe arent i smart?_

** Ryuji **

_dude why are you telling me this?_

_i live with akira_

_we’re bros_

_im gonna tell him_

** Ann **

_ryuji no!!!_

_dont let akira ruin this!!! i'm trying to help!!_

** Ryuji **

_bros before hoes_

** Ann **

_ugh_

_not like it matters_

_goro is already on his way_

Akira doesn’t even take a moment to register Ann’s apparent intervention in his and Goro’s non-romance. He quickly tosses Ryuji’s phone back to him, ignoring the muted _hey!_ , and grabs his own phone to prepare for a mad dash out of the apartment.

“I’ll be back, probably!!” He yells, dashing out the door, ignoring Ryuji’s _sure, sure._

He purposely doesn’t tell Ryuji where he’s going. He knows they’re bros, but he has a feeling their friend group has some bets going on, and therefore he needs to keep his destinations a secret from now on.

As he runs, he thinks about how he’s not really fooling anyone.

All of his friends know his go-to place is Leblanc.

*

Akira almost feels bad for the way he barges into Leblanc twenty minutes later (he would’ve gotten here sooner if he wasn’t looking over his shoulder everywhere for specters in the shape of Goro), especially when the only customer in the shop jumps visibly.

Sojiro gives him a long-suffering look from the counter, closing his eyes in frustration while bringing a hand up to his forehead to massage his favorite headache spot. Akira knows it’s a sign of affection. On the barstools he spots two exhausted friends of his. They look especially haggard, even more than Akira feels, and that is impressive considering he just spent twenty minutes literally running from his problems. He walks over to pat them on their backs.

“Yusuke, Futaba, is there any reason why the two of you look more beat-down than me, the man who has been hiding from his problems for two days now?”

Futaba gives an answering groan from beneath her arms, “You’ve been hiding _and_ running from those a lot longer than two days, bud.”

Akira pauses, “Well, point taken, but that’s not an answer.”

Yusuke, who is in almost the same position as Futaba, just with a notebook and a pen clutched in his hands, throws his head up and seems to spot Akira for the first time, “Akira! My muse, please help me.”

Futaba stops him before he can grab and drag Akira upstairs, “No one can help you now, Inari. No one can help either of us, we brought this on ourselves!” She holds Yusuke’s arms down and bows her head in shame.

Akira looks toward Sojiro, asking silently for an explanation, and he only shakes his head. “They’ve been like this all morning. I think it’s school related.”

Yusuke answers the initial question, finally, “We failed to budget our time accordingly, and now we have less than twenty-four hours to pass our midterms.”

Ah. Akira grimaces in sympathy. Out of their friend group, only Futaba and Yusuke are still in university. Futaba because she started schooling late, and Yusuke because he took a year off to ‘explore the world’.

He never even left Tokyo; he’d just visited every inch of the place.

He supposes that’s better than Akira, who’d decided that university wasn’t for him yet, took two years off to think about it, and then became traumatized enough that the thought of having responsibilities terrifies him.

All-in-all, great judgement on his part, he thinks uncharitably.

“Do you want some help going over materials?” He offers, unsure of what the subject even is or if he can help. He doesn’t know the first thing about computer science or cultural artistry, but he’s always willing to be a soundboard for his friends.

They both wave him off, almost in sync, and Akira shrugs in acceptance. He takes a seat at the bar and goes to ask Sojiro for a cup of coffee.

The man slides him an already completed cup, raising an eyebrow in challenge.

Akira immediately takes a sip of the dark roast, and meets Sojiro’s eyes afterward. “I have a problem.”

“Oh yeah? Let’s hear it.” There’s one thing he really loves about Sojiro, which is his attitude toward not wanting to get involved in other peoples problems. This means that he never needs to hear context or backstory for anything sparing the other person from having to rehash an entire event. It’s proven infinitely useful in the past when his friends and he got involved in problems far outside their aptitude to solve, but didn’t want to get in trouble with any of their guardians when seeking advice.

“I’m avoiding Goro because I accidently confessed, but I can’t do that forever. What do I do?”

Sojiro doesn’t even bat an eye. Akira winces at just how obvious he was to everyone around him at all times. How on earth did Goro not figure him out earlier?

“Confront him. Get a straight answer immediately so you can stop running and disrupting my shop.”

“I can’t confront him, what if he hates me for messing up our dynamic?”

“If you seriously think that kid isn’t fully in love with you, then I’ve raised an idiot.”

“You only raised me for two years.” Akira weakly argues, ignoring the first part of the sentence.

Sojiro rolls his eyes, “Don’t be an idiot, kid. Just talk to the other kid.”

Akira contemplates it for almost a full minute before he is interrupted.

“Aah!!” Futaba suddenly screeches, causing Sojiro to give another long-suffering sigh and give up massaging his forehead. Futaba ignores him and turns her phone in Akira’s direction.

“What’s up, Futaba? What am I looking at?” He questions. There is a map of Yongen-Jaya on Futaba’s phone, just displaying the backstreets Leblanc is located in. The rest of the details, dots and running lines, are indecipherable to him. He’s not a tech junkie like Futaba is, and he certainly isn’t going to school for it like she is, either.

“Akira!” She rapidly pints to a moving dot getting closer to Leblanc, “That’s Akechi!! I have his GPS info and he’s right here, right now!!”

Akira mouth drops open, and he articulately answers, “AAAHH?!”

“You’ve got the Eliminator right on your ass, you need to go go go!” And before he can hear Sojiro reprimand her for her language, Akira grabs Yusuke and books it upstairs to hide.

“Please, don’t say anything, Boss! Unless you want a huge dramatic confrontation in your shop!”

He hears Futaba follow and figures her anxiety might’ve peaked with the excitement.

Faintly, Sojiro replies from downstairs, “Aren’t you already doing that, kid?”

Akira turns Yusuke to his art supplies and study materials, whispering into his ear, “I’ll buy you lunch for a week at the sushi place if you stay occupied and don’t give me away.”

Yusuke’s eyes light up and he obediently turns to his things, following Akira’s orders for the sake of food. Akira absently thinks he should figure out why Yusuke has such an aversion to buying food for himself, but that’s something he can deal with later.

He turns around to see Futaba staring intently at her phone, likely tracking Goro’s movements, and he shuffles next to her on the floor. She angles the phone slightly so he can see, and the dot enters Leblanc right as he hears a jingle downstairs.

He looks up to Futaba to see her miming a zipper closed on her mouth, and Akira gives her a look of gratitude. It seems she won’t be giving him up today.

He crouches low to the ground and presses his ear to the floorboards, as close to the staircase as he dares. He can hear the muffles sounds of people below, and can mostly make out what is being said.

He picks up on Goro’s voice easily.

“Can I ask for some advice, Boss?” Goro’s voice sounds, seemingly tense.

“Oh? So, one of you kids will actually listen to my advice, huh? Well, ask away.”

“... How can I get... someone to just listen to me without assuming what I have to say?”

“Hmm, you’re asking how to deal with Akira’s stubbornness?”

“Ah. You know what’s going on?”

“Not really. But I don’t need to. You know him better than I do, kid. ”

“I... thought I did, but I missed something big, apparently. I could’ve saved us a lot of time if I’d noticed sooner.”

“You want my advice, kid?” A pause, and Akira assumes Goro nods because Sojiro continues, “Let him tire himself out. Not a day went by that I didn’t hear ‘Goro this, Goro that’ so I think you’ve got a pretty good shot of him crawling his way back to you.”

A long silence stretches downstairs, long enough that Akira entertains the thought that they straight up left the shop. But then Goro’s sigh fills the air.

“Okay. Well, this might be to my advantage.” Before Akira can contemplate that sentence, he continues, “I’ve been handed a very time sensitive case at work, one that I do not want Akira involved in. Maybe I can use the time away from him to come up with my answer when he ‘crawls back’.” A chuckle follows.

“That’s the spirit, kid.”

“You know, we’re all adults now. Even Futaba turned twenty this year.”

“Eh. You’re all kids if you’re gonna pull this nonsense every year.”

“Fair enough.” The sound of a stool getting pushed back makes Akira’s muscles tense up in preparation to hide (where, he’s not sure. Maybe under the futon?).

“All I ask is you don’t get mad at him too much for this. He’s still healing, y’know?”

Akira winces and curls in on himself somewhat, his default reaction when someone even alludes to the past year.

A deep inhale and a shaky exhale are loud enough to be heard by Akira, and Goro responds, “I don’t think I could ever be truly mad at Akira. He has a tight grip on me, right here.”

Before Akira can parse the meaning of those words, Sojiro makes an annoyed noise, “Alright, alright, don’t waste your gestures on me, get out of here, kid.”

“Okay. Thank you for your advice. I’ll try to take it to heart.”

“You can survive a few days without the kid.” Akira winces at that, but he realizes it’s ultimately true. Goro and he didn’t _need_ to see each other every day (no matter how much Akira wanted to), and besides, this stretch of not seeing each other was entirely his fault.

“... I’m not so sure.” Goro’s voice murmurs, and Akira’s heart clenches in worry. The awful feeling of guilt threatens to overtake him, and he barely stops himself from rushing downstairs to grovel and apologize.

He supposes this is what Sojiro meant by him ‘tiring himself out’.

The door jingles before Akira makes a move he’s not ready for, and Futaba motions to the dot representing Goro slowly getting farther from them.

He’s in the clear. He doesn’t feel much relief from it.

Futaba must take pity on him, because he feels her slip her hand into his and give a small squeeze. He turns to her and gives a small smile in response. Her support makes him feel simultaneously better and worse. He hopes someone can give support to Goro.

Yusuke speaks up, closer than he was a few moments ago. Futaba gives a slight jump, like she was also surprised to see him so close. “Maybe you should go see Haru and Makoto. They are sure to give you appropriate advice to your problem.” Akira looks up to Yusuke to see the man studying his face rather closely.

“Yeah,” Akira agrees and looks away from Yusuke’s knowing eyes, “Yeah, okay. That’s not a bad idea. Get advice from the only couple in our group.”

He gets up to make his way downstairs. Futaba follows him down, but Yusuke stays up, likely trying to study in peace.

Sojiro gives Futaba and Akira a _look_ , and Akira recognizes it as his disappointed dad look.

“You know, you really should give that boy a chance.” He says in a nonchalant way, obviously trying to dig the message deeper into Akira’s brain.

He doesn’t really need to; the idea already eats at him. “I’m working on it. I’m trying to be ready for the worst-case scenario.”

Futaba hands land on the small of his back and push him toward the exit. “Okay buddy. Go see Haru and Makoto and let them knock some sense into you. You are clearly dragging your feet staying here, and I can’t be bothered with your distracting moping.”

Akira unhelpfully digs his feet into the ground slightly to give Futaba trouble and she plays along by groaning in agony.

The back and forth does put a smile on his face, and he lets her guide him to the door, gracefully bowing at the exit (ignoring Sojiro’s disappointed sigh, yet again) and leaves.

*

Taking Yusuke’s advice seriously, Akira decides to visit Haru and Makoto, the best successful couple he knows. Maybe they can offer less judge-y advice than Sojiro or Futaba, who are both perpetually single just like he is and therefore unhelpful in the long run.

Haru smiles at the door, happy to let him into her home. “Mako-chan isn’t here right now, she’s off running an errand, I believe. She’ll be back soon, though.”

Akira rubs the back of his neck as she leads him to the kitchen. “Ahh, that’s okay. I wanted advice from both of you, actually.”

Haru pulls out two chairs to the small table she and Makoto keep in their kitchen for small discussions and looks to Akira in surprise, “Our advice? Whatever for?”

Akira takes a seat at the table and watches as Haru proceeds to prepare some tea. Usually she would make some new concoction of coffee that was sourced from the weirdest places she can find, but after the fifth time she snuck some variant of shit coffee down his throat he finally begged her to stick with tea.

Now she picks the weirdest flavors of tea, which is much better in Akira’s opinion.

“It’s about Goro. I’m sure you know I confessed the other day, after the party. Uh... accidently. And now I don’t know what to do, or if I should do something at all.” Which isn’t entirely true. He knows he should confront his problems; he’s just looking for any excuse to avoid that.

Makoto might be better at the avoidance than Haru, who was the first person to confess in their relationship and never allowed Makoto to play them off as ‘gal pals’ to strangers.

Haru finishes making the tea after letting the non-question hang for a moment. She places a cup in front of Akira while she takes a seat and sips from her own cup.

Then, she makes heavy eye contact with him. “Well. I can tell you with complete confidence, you and Akechi-kun are practically made for each other. Even in high school, Mako-chan and I didn’t even have a hope of catching your attention.”

A noise of confusion escapes Akira, “What do you mean? I hung out with you guys all the time, you’re my friends.”

Haru gives him the most pitying look anyone has ever received in history, and it makes Akira feel like he’s been barely present for the last ten years of his own life if he’s missed something so obvious. “Akira. Our whole friend group has had a crush on you at some point. And that includes Mako-chan and I.”

The words don’t register with Akira for a solid minute, and thankfully Haru has the mercy to take a sip of her tea in the interim so he doesn’t have to see her pitying eyes anymore.

Finally, his voice returns, and he uses it to articulate his concern, “WHAT?!”

Haru giggles as she puts her teacup back in the saucer, “Yes. Ann, Makoto, Ryuji, Yusuke, and I had massive crushes on you throughout high school. We all basically made a heartbroken group chat to deal with it, seeing as none of us had a chance.”

Akira can’t come up with anything to say in response. He tries to think back to a time in high school that any of his friends showed even a hint of wanting more from him, but he can’t think past wanting more from Goro, almost since day one. He has no recollection of anyone asking him out on any dates, or inquiring if he was interested in anyone, or even offering him something other than friend chocolates on Valentine’s Day. He’s struck with a guilty conscience. Did he hurt his own best friends because he was so oblivious?

Haru must see the dawning horror on his face, because she rapidly waves her hands in front of Akira, “No no, Akira! Don’t you dare feel bad. None of us were all that bothered by your lack of interest. We clearly saw the way you adored Akechi-kun, so we all got over our crushes rather quickly.”

Akira still can’t stop feeling guilty. What kind of friend was he, when he can’t even pick up on his friends feelings?

Haru moves from her position on the other side of the table to bring her chair closer to Akira. She settles the chair down and rests a hand on his arm which he’d placed lightly on the table, clutching his teacup. “Akira, you were the best kind of first crush for all of us. I can show you the text logs to prove it. You never made us feel ashamed for liking you, and because you never led us on we never expected more from you. If anything, it made the rest of us better friends after we all moved on.”

Akira decides to take her word on it, no matter how much he wants to prod at the revelation. He knows he’s never been able to keep it a secret how much he loves Goro, almost from day one, and his friends have always made it a habit to make fun of him for it, so that must mean they understood and were okay with Akira’s unintentional dismissal of their feelings.

The surprise knowledge almost completely distracts him from asking for advice from Haru, the very reason he came by.

The sound of the front door opening and closing, followed by two voices talking lightly, draws Akira’s attention to the kitchen entrance. Makoto and her sister make their way into the house, pausing slightly at the kitchen entrance as they take in the sight of Akira and Haru.

Makoto chuckles slightly at the panicked expression that threatens to overtake Akira’s face. “Don’t worry, Akira. I won’t tell Akechi-kun you’re here.”

Sae takes a second longer to give him a calculating look. Akira squirms slightly under her gaze. She’d always been a slight enigma to him. He barely remembers her presence in high school (as Makoto’s big sister, but nothing else), and she’d played a big role in his life when she spontaneously appeared in that interrogation room like some sort of angel. He’s always felt a sense of awe and gratitude to her, and he’s infinitely glad she works well with Goro.

“Ah. Kurusu-kun, you’re here as well? Goro has been looking for you.” Akira’s head lowers until he can settle it onto the table in front of him, too tired and ashamed to face Sae when he has no answers. “Well, he was, but now he might be too busy with the new case to see anyone.”

Akira deflates slightly at the further news that Goro has taken on a new case, and he briefly wonders if it’s the murder case he’s been stressing about. He decides it’s worth it to ask Sae, “This new case, is it about the bodies that were found on Central Street?”

Sae gives him a side look, obviously weighing the benefit of sharing information about an ongoing case with some random twenty-one-year-old, before she sighs in exasperation, “If I didn’t tell you, Sakura-san would just find the information out anyway. If Goro doesn’t just spill the beans to you himself.”

Akira laughs a little awkwardly, trying to convey that he _wouldn’t_ have just asked Futaba (even though he totally would).

Sae continues bleakly, “Two more bodies were found over the last two days. The coroner is still trying to pinpoint time of death, but it’s likely they were killed earlier than the first victim. I’d say this guy’s been active for two weeks now, longer than previously thought.” Akira can’t hold in his grimace at the ominous news, and casts his eyes downward at the thought that Goro was dealing with the particularly gruesome case alone.

“The higher-ups are desperate. They told Goro to get it done if he wants to continue to be contracted. He even called in a favor with me to help him, if that helps you realize just how stressed this must make him.”

It does. Akira knows how dedicated Goro is to making sure he does a good job, too. If his superiors were trying to force an answer out of Goro, but he didn’t have enough confidence in the answer to give it, things would only get more and more tense.

And Akira chose this time to ghost Goro.

Makoto must decide to steer the conversation away from the grisly case, because she pulls a set next to Akira and places her head on her hands to give him a solid stare down.

“So, how are you planning to confess to Akechi-kun again? I assume this time you won’t run away screaming?”

Akira pauses. He didn’t have any plans to confess again. Honestly, he was hoping to meet back up with Goro and the two of them would non-verbally agree nothing happened and move on with their lives. The thought of having to confess again, this time face-to-face, completely conscious of his decision, and await an answer, fills him with such anxiety it’s a wonder he doesn’t collapse then and there.

His lingering silence must strike a nerve with Makoto because her eyebrows furrow.

“Are you seriously going to tell me you’re giving up?” Makoto uncharacteristically sneers at him, leaning back, “After all this, you’re going to slink away with your tail between your legs just because Goro Akechi might say no?”

Akira shifts uncomfortably in his seat, not making eye contact with Makoto. This must be answer enough for her, because she continues.

“I say, who cares if he says no!”

His brows furrow, and he looks toward Makoto, who is offering him a shit-eating grin, not unlike the ones he gives to everyone around him when he needs to show confidence.

“If he says no, just convince him to say yes, instead. You know as well as I do that no one else comes _close_ to being an equal to Akechi. You’re the only one he’s ever considered important enough to share in everything he does, from his job to his past. Sure, he sees the rest of us as friends, but you’re a step above that, Akira. The only way he’d say no is if he doesn’t even _know_ that he loves you. So, convince him that his ‘no’ is wrong. That ‘yes’ is the right answer.”

Akira shifts his eyes downward. Is it really so simple? Convince Goro that he is the best one for him? Can he even do that, will Goro even like that kind of pushy attitude? He feels his thoughts compound in his head, his overthinking mind driving itself overboard. Isn’t it a bad idea to try and _peer pressure_ Goro into giving him a chance? Especially if Goro still has some sort of lingering guilt over The Incident?

A hand is placed on his shoulder, and Akira looks up to see a smiling Haru, “Trust your friends, Akira. Trust us that Akechi-kun will say yes, and trust that Akechi-kun will give you a chance if he doesn’t say yes.”

The words do give him a sense of hope. He knows Goro would at least hear him out, and he knows his friends would never willingly send him somewhere where he might be hurt. He thinks it might be better to place his trust in them, rather than himself.

“I.. will Goro even want to talk to me? You said he’s thrown himself into his new case?” He turns to Sae slightly.

“Hmm. Well, yes he has, but I wouldn’t doubt he’s also worried about you. He never stops talking about you, so I imagine he never stops thinking about you either. Seeing you may alleviate some of his worry.”

Akira has to contend with that as well. He’s probably added to Goro’s worries over the past few days. He knows he’s one of the only people Goro trusts with is problems, trusts to help him when the world becomes too much. He feels a deep shame well up inside himself. He’d left Goro to wallow in an unknown situation. He knows Goro likes his life prim and proper, no room for unaccountable variables to hurt him, and he’d left the man to work on some sort of monster case while his best friend seemingly _regrets_ confessing his love.

Akira jumps to his feet and whips out his phone. It’s not too late in the day for a run to Goro’s apartment, and it’s definitely not too late for a groveling session to try and gain his forgiveness for being an idiot.

He turns to say goodbye to the Makoto and Haru. The two give him encouraging nods, but Makoto opens her mouth, likely to try and give advice, Akira assumes.

“Get your ass moving, Akira,” Makoto says, not unkindly. Akira goes to do just that, nodding his head and goes to make a break for the door, mentally calculating if it would be faster to just run to Goro’s apartment or suck it up and take the subway to formulate a speech. He doesn’t want to leave without a word of thanks to everyone in the room, however, so he gives a smile to Haru, Makoto, and Sae.

“Thanks guys, I... _really_ appreciate this.” And because he wants to embarrass Makoto more than anything after she’d kicked his emotions in the ass, he follows up, “And sorry I couldn’t return your feelings! Turns out we’re _both_ too gay for each other!” He smirks at her face quickly filling with outrage.

“Get the hell out of here, Kurusu!!” She yells, blush swiftly taking over her face while Haru daintily laughs behind her. Akira opens the front door to do just what Makoto asks. “And because I know you’ve forgotten, avoid Central Street, stick to crowded areas!”

“Got it!” He responds, slamming the door shut and taking the steps down to the ground floor of the complex two at a time.

He’s got places to be, and a boy to convince to give him a chance.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> school starts for me next week, but i hope to keep the once a week schedule. i'm also working on a halloween fic, so please look forward to it, :)) 
> 
> my social for twitter is @soulfishie


	6. ... and the Wrong Time

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Akira tries to find Goro while keeping his promise, but there are always shadows lurking in the dark.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i feel like i should reiterate, this fic is self-indulgent as hell, i am throwing all my favorite tropes in the stew, because i love them, orz
> 
> cw: some violence this chapter, if you want more specifics i will put them in the end notes (nothing worse than in-game stuff)

Akira remembers quite clearly the last time he considered confessing to Goro Akechi.

It was his twentieth birthday, and he’d convinced all of his friends to let him have a peaceful dinner with Goro before they all inevitably kidnapped him for the night to torture through various party favors and drink combinations. It was suggested under the excuse of ‘finally being an adult’, but Akira knew better.

They wanted to haze him for becoming an adult, and almost every one of them were older than him, so he didn’t have a choice.

He always knew the hazing he gave them would come back to bite him.

But he didn’t regret giving himself over to their wiles if it meant he could have a peaceful dinner with just Goro. The boy he’s loved since high school.

The boy he was still figuring out how to confess to.

Akira thought it would be the perfect setting at Jazz Jin. Goro had showed him the place in high school (and emphasized Akira was the only person to know) and Akira never took anyone else there, and neither did Goro. It became their space where they spent time with each other, just basking in the other’s presence.

Looks exchanged, and whispered words were spoken and laughed at. The atmosphere was warm and pleasant, as it always was when it was just the two of them. Their uneasy rivalry in high school that had quickly turned into unshaken bonds of friendship, and then just as quickly evolved into a tie so strong, Akira thought it could never be broken by anything. The history of their connection was a pleasant back current to the here and now.

Akira told a horrible pun, and Goro gave a piercing glare in response.

But the look of complete contentment on Goro’s face lit a burning desire in Akira to see that expression forever. He knew Goro would be the only one he could feel this way toward, and if he was ever going to confess, the time was then and there. Goro’s eyes connected with Akira’s and Akira opened his mouth to let out every lovelorn thought he’s ever had, from a friendship he never thought he deserved, to a connection so vibrant he can’t imagine life without it.

Then, Goro’s attention was grabbed by a singer entering the club, and the moment was gone.

And Akira had realized. If he confessed, he would _risk_ that connection he can’t imagine life without. Goro had never been interested in romantic relationships all throughout high school, and he seemed even less interested now that he attended university. How could Akira risk something so precious on something so trivial? For his own selfish desires? Goro might say no, but even worse, he might feel _forced_ to say yes. To keep their friendship, for Akira’s sake, for his _birthday_ , even.

Akira smiled at Goro when those eyes swiveled back to him, and the conversation carried on. Talk of university that Akira wasn’t attending, talk of friends who were so busy but still found time for each other, talk of possible part-time jobs Akira was thinking of taking because he has too much free time.

When the thought of a confession drifted farther and farther away, Akira smiled and thought to himself, _maybe next time_.

But then...

But then...

Well.

Akira lays his head against the door of Goro’s apartment. His empty apartment. The empty apartment he spent the last ten minutes trying to beat the door down with all his knocking. Akira groans.

Goro isn’t home.

Akira drops to his hands and knees and maneuvers himself so he’s sitting against the apartment door. His genius plan was foiled so easily.

He sighs heavily and contemplates. He needs to talk to Goro as soon as he can. He knows if he convinces himself to wait a day or even another hour, he’ll chicken out.

He needs to find Goro while he still has the nerve from his friends pep talks.

Akira’s only bet at this point is to find out where he is and run there, and who better to find out than the stalker he considers his little sister.

He takes his phone out to see several missed texts from Ann and the group chat, Ann saying to call her so she can yell at him, and Futaba in the group chat saying not to contact her or Yusuke while they suffer through studying.

Okay. So Futaba’s help is ruled out.

Akira groans to himself against Goro’s apartment door. He deserves to suffer like this. This is what Goro probably went through for the past few days.

He can’t give up now, though.

Akira lifts himself from his seated position and heads back to the station. He knows Futaba says she doesn’t want to be disturbed, and he respects that.

He’d only be helping by snatching her phone away from her while she does so. Phones are serious distractions after all.

*

The journey from Goro’s apartment to Leblanc is not a very long one. Thankfully, when Goro had the opportunity to move into his own place, Akira had already been entrenched into his life, so proximity to Leblanc was a deciding factor in which place he would pick out.

Which turned out to be very convenient with all the late-night sleepovers and visits to Leblanc that resulted afterward.

Akira taps his foot against the floor of the train and peers through the windows. The scenery of Shibuya at night flows by him and an errant thought enters his head.

Could he get some info for Goro to make up for being so absent from a hard case? Goro admitted himself that Akira was the better interviewer of the two. He’s sure if he went to Central Street right now, someone would have something to say to him. Any piece of information is important in a time sensitive case, especially if a serial killer is involved.

He jolts and chases the thought away immediately.

What a way to try to make up to Goro. _‘Hey, Goro, I did what you specifically said I shouldn’t do because I love you, date me?’_

He’d be lucky if Goro talked to him again this century.

He massages his head with his fingers. This internal back and forth with himself is getting him nowhere fast, and he still has the rest of the train and a short walk to go until he gets to Leblanc.

He needs a distraction.

His hands instinctively call the only person who might have semi-decent advice. Thankfully, she picks up on the first ring.

_“Akira!! Where have you been?!”_

“Ah, Ann. Please don’t yell, I’m having a tough day—night—whatever time it is.”

_“I know you have! I’ve been trying to help, but you keep avoiding everyone!”_

“Not everyone... just everyone who will tell Goro where I am.”

_“So, me and Sumire, then.”_

“Yeah.”

_“Hmph. Rude.”_

“I’m sorry, Ann. I’m a mess.”

_“Akira.. I really think you should talk to Goro.”_

“Well, yeah I _should_ , but should I?”

An exasperated sigh _, “Yes, Akira. You should.”_

“Good thing that’s what I’m trying to do right now, then.” A gasp resounds at his words.

_“Really?!”_

“Yeah. Do you know where Goro is?”

_“This is so great, Akira! I’m happy you’re finally getting out of your own head! Who convinced you? Was it Haru? I bet it was Haru.”_

“Ann, do you know where Goro is?”

_“Was it a Haru and Makoto team effort? That’s the only way you take information in. If more than one person tells you the same thing.”_

“Ann.”

_“I’m so happy this is gonna work out, do you know how worried I was? You are the king of avoiding people, Akira.”_

“Ann.”

_“I swear, I sometimes didn’t see you for a week in school, what were you even doing?”_

“Ann!!”

_“Oh, fine fine, let me find out, jeez. I’m just so happy.”_

Akira sighs at Ann’s antics. He would be happier if he got this confrontation over with.

_“Oh. His phone is off.”_

“I know! You don’t know where he is?”

_“Uh.”_

“So you don’t.”

_“.... Did you try asking Futaba?”_

“Her phone is off, too.”

_“Oh.”_

“So, no one will know? Should I call Sumire?”

_“Wait, why not just go to Leblanc? If Goro is anywhere, then he’s there. Especially if he’s working on that big case.”_

“Yeah. I was headed there anyway. That sounds good.”

_“Headed there? From where?”_

“Goro’s apartment. He wasn’t home.”

_“Oh right. I should have figured. Why did I think he was at Leblanc before his own place?”_

“Maybe because he’s never there.” Which is something Akira tries not to think about. Goro works too hard for his own good.

_“Wait, does that mean you went to Central Street? Even though Goro explicitly told you not to?”_

“Not really, I just took the train and transferred. I didn’t even leave the station. Also, he’s not my dad.”

_“Y’know, he only said that because he’s worried about you.”_

“I know.”

_“There’s a serial killer running about, Akira. He’s probably worried you’ll do some independent detective work in the most dangerous places...”_

He nervously chuckles, “... Yeah, that’d be stupid.”

“ _Akira. You did not.”_

“I decided not to!”

_“You went into Shibuya to try and solve the case?!”_

“No! I wasn’t—! It was a thought I had, but I decided not to!”

_“Akira, I’m gonna rat you out.”_

“No, please! I won’t be able to leave my apartment for a year if you tell Goro _or_ Ryuji!”

_“I know! That’s why I’m doing it!”_

“I’m headed back to Leblanc right now! I’m being a good boy.”

_“I don’t think I care! You obviously can’t be trusted now that you confessed. You’re like—a loose cannon! With nothing to fear!”_

“I would be better if Goro would turn his phone on and talk to me.”

_“...To be fair, he tried. You avoided him for, like, half a week. Have you ever been separated from him for more than a day?”_

“Uhh... Not on purpose?”

_“Imagine how he feels!”_

“Probably pretty glad he doesn’t have to reject me OR pity date me.”

_“Akira...”_

“No—sorry—that came out wrong. Ignore me, Ann.” Akira feels the train stop, and he steps out from the subway to make his way into Yongen-Jaya.

_“You can’t be sure of either of those things until you talk to him. Don’t put words in his mouth.”_

“Okay. You’re right.”

_“I know I’m right; you can just call me the sailor of love and justice!”_

“I don’t think I will. Have _you_ talked to _Shiho_ yet?”

_“Ugh. You’re annoying.”_

“That’s what I thought.”

_“Are you almost at Leblanc?”_

“Yes, mother, I just turned down the backstreets.”

_“Don’t backtalk me, mister. I—”_

Akira’s entire body lurches as he’s grabbed by the collar of his shirt and thrown into an alley, falling to the ground with a clatter. His shoulder aches in agony from where he slams it into the ground, and his phone clatters slightly away from his hand.

“Ahhck!” He yelps in pain, his eyes ringing with the force of his fall. The distant sound of Ann’s questions coming through his phone are drowned out by footsteps coming closer to where he’s splayed out.

“Oh, please don’t move. I don’t want this to get rough _here_ ,” A smarmy voice creeps into his awareness, momentarily freezing Akira.

He looks up to see a man with short oily hair and a long trench coat peering down at him with a disconcerting smile plastered on his face. The light from the streetlamps just outside the alleyway paint his face in alarming shades of yellow and black. His posture screams with a lack of care or awareness, and his hands seem to tremble in front of him, which was an alarming problem for Akira.

Especially because in his hand, pointed right at him, was a gun.

Akira freezes in his attempts to get up, too aware of his situation to allow it to deteriorate. His eyes dart to his phone, fallen too far away from him to do anything about it now, not with this man aiming a gun at him and barely holding himself together.

He can only hope Ann took his abrupt exit from the conversation as seriously as she could. All he could do now was use his big mouth for stalling, hopefully not pissing the guy with a gun off in the process.

“Alright. You got it. Not moving.” Akira places his hands on the ground, his head still at an uncomfortable angle. He refuses to lower it though; he wants to see the other man as clear as he can.

The man gives him a genuine smile, which paired with the trembling and unkempt appearance only gives Akira a dark foreboding feeling.

“How lovely. I knew you would see it my way,” He says, moving so he can stand more directly in front of Akira.

A tense silence stretches for a few moments as the man moves around Akira. He can’t tell what the man is trying to do, but his options are limited with the gun securely focused on his form no matter where the man moves.

“I saw you a few weeks ago,” The man begins, aware he has a captive audience at his disposal. Akira tries not to think of why the man is choosing to monologue instead of just killing him outright, too aware of the precarious position he’s in. He just decides to be thankful for now that the man is giving him an opportunity to escape, “You were in the Shibuya subway, interviewing people. I kept waiting for you to come up to me, to ask me questions, and then I could ask you for coffee afterward, but you never came.”

Interviewing people in Shibuya. Akira tries to keep his face and body neutral as he puzzles out the other man’s words. He must be talking about the case with the businessmen who were harassing people at the station. Had this guy known of him the entire time? Why? Did he do something to grab this guy’s attention? The thought sends a chill down his spine. Has he been stalked this whole time without even knowing it?

The man continues without realizing Akira‘s internal turmoil, but he doesn’t move the gun, keeping Akira figuratively chained to the same spot, “You left with that man instead. He can’t be better than I am, can he? I just had to make you see.”

Akira’s eyes dart back and forth between the gun and the man’s eyes. His head keeps moving with his hand movements, erratically and without a pattern, so Akira rules out brute force. There’s no way to know how much a straightforward attack would even faze the guy, since he seemed to be off balance anyway.

The man shuffles his feet somewhat, drawing Akira’s attention down. An idea forms in his head. A tackle for the gun might be inadvisable, but a leap for the legs could force the man to let go of it to retain his balance.

It’s a risky move, and Akira decides to save it in case the situation changes.

The man continues, “I lost sight of you back then, however. It made me...,” The pauses makes Akira tense slightly in anticipation. Letting the man talk is his best bet to getting out of this safely, but if the man starts to become erratic, then Akira will have to start hedging his bets. He’ll have to start getting risky, “It made me very angry.”

Akira releases a breath and eyes the man’s trembling hand, still holding the gun and still pointed at him.

“And then I couldn’t find you afterwards! Every person who looked like you, they were not you after all!” The man takes a step back and lifts the gun away from Akira, “I just got so... angry! They weren’t you, and I didn’t like that!”

Akira keeps his mouth shut for now. This guys is clearly trying to get a lot off his chest, and any snarkiness on his part might backfire spectacularly.

However, the insinuation that the other victims were only killed because they looked like Akira sits on his chest, threatening to drag him down. When Goro told him that the victims matched his description, he thought it might be a reason he could be targeted. He never thought he was the _original_ target.

He subtly tries to shake his head at the thought. Just more guilt he can carry after he gets out of this situation. Preferably _alive_.

The man’s voice carries back into his ears, alerting Akira to the fact that he may have been tuning out crucial monologuing, “—lucky the first man had a gun on him. It made threatening the next two much easier. And then, who should I see today, but the boy I’ve been desperately searching for this whole time?”

Akira winces. Even with a promise kept to Goro, the perpetrator still found a way to find him. The thoughts of Goro make him slightly hysterical in his own mind. How much trouble is he gonna be in, even though he has been good? No matter what Ann sad or he thought, he _kept_ the promise.

No one had the crucial information that Akira was the main target, so going outside was a bad move in and of itself.

“And you’re just as beautiful as I remember you.”

Akira feels a shiver run down his spine. That line fills him with a growing sense of trepidation. This isn’t a normal stalking/murder case if lines like that are being thrown around.

Obsession is the worst outcome if the guy has the upper hand and a gun.

“Won’t you speak? And come with me? I promise you won’t regret it.”

Akira can’t help the weak chuckle that escapes him, “I’m not so sure.”

The response seems to be a bad move, because the man only grows _emboldened_ with happiness, “No, no, allow me to prove it to you! I will prove my love. I want you to get up now, please. We have a long walk back to my house.”

Akira stays locked in place. His mind whirs with knowledge gained from Goro and the many documentaries he’s watched in the past. If this man gets him alone, his chances of survival go down, and that has already happened. If the man takes him to a separate location, his chance of survival goes WAY down, but he has a chance to stop that. His only choice is to stall right here in the alleyway, hoping against all odds Ann can figure out what’s going on and muster some help.

“Or we can stay here and chat? I’m kind of comfy on the ground,” He says with as much sincerity as he is able to muster. His voice stays clear and steady, showing no sign of fear. He feels the man may be insulted if Akira doesn’t at least pretend to take the offers seriously.

The offer doesn’t humor the man at all. His upper lip curls into a snarl, and the yellow lights of the streetlamps glisten off his white teeth, “Get up. Now. I won’t ask again.”

Akira winces at his failed stalling. His options grow slimmer and slimmer. He tries a different tactic in desperation, “Won’t you come help me? I seem to have hurt my leg and need someone strong to assist me.”

The man jolts, and right when Akira thinks he may have gained a slight edge, the man shakes his head, “No. You will get up and I’ll help you when we get home. I will not be fooled by your—"

A yell in the distance stops the man from speaking further.

Akira spots his chance. The man shifts on his feet, and his head turns to the noise in the distance. The yelling voices aren’t intelligible, but they are unknown and unusual enough to distract the man. He tenses his legs and pushes himself up, going from laying down to kneeling on his knees.

The man whips his head back around and aims the gun.

Akira takes a deep breath, praying his choice isn’t a stupid one, and maneuvers to the left while pushing his way forward, aiming for the man’s legs.

A shot goes off, a light shoots to the right of him, but Akira doesn’t pay it notice, too focused on tackling the man off of his feet.

The tackle succeeds.

The gun clatters away on the ground, and Akira bears all of his weight on the man.

Just when he feels like victory is clearly his to take, the world blurs around the edges.

Pain erupts on his right side.

And darkness steals his sight, drawing him in and cutting him off from the waking world.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> cw: someone gets shot (no blood mention), non-explicit mention of murder
> 
> before you kill me for this cliffhanger, i'll give you a tease for the next chapter --> goro pov time 😊 alright feel free to kill me now, my @ on twitter is @soulfishie


	7. Interlude - Goro Akechi

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Goro Akechi’s life was irrevocably changed when Akira Kurusu entered it. He refuses to let the man change it again by leaving.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I may have overestimated my ability to do full-time school and full-time work and also do hobbies at the same time while the US elections are happening... so this chapter is late. OOF. Rest assured; this fic will be completed!

Akira is a contradiction, even to a self-proclaimed expert of the boy, like Goro fancies himself.

The day he first met Akira—Goro doesn’t believe in fate or destiny, but the day he met Akira—something clicked into place. Something he longed to have—a connection, a belonging, an equal—was finally given to him by the world.

He’d been beaten at darts. Darts of all things, Goro still cannot fathom it. But, more than anything, he can’t fathom the way his heart had skipped a beat when Akira had turned a smug smirk his way after his win, as if asking why Goro couldn’t do better.

As it turned out, smug overconfidence was his foil, and his ultimate weakness.

Their rivalry was tense at first, at least to Goro who had never lost at anything, and who now found himself _trying_ to stay ahead. Akira’s smug posturing every time he would win or even be close to a win was _infuriating_ and he isn’t ashamed to admit wanting to have an old-fashioned duel just so he could physically wipe the smirk off his face.

But eventually, Akira grew on him. To the point where he couldn’t fathom being separated from his side after only five months. Five months was all it took for Akira Kurusu to completely wrap Goro Akechi around his little finger.

It was maddening.

More maddening, even, than the pathetic group that flocked to Akira in those five months as well. He may call them his friends now (under his breath, in private messages to Akira, but _never_ to their faces), but in the early days they were nothing but a nuisance, a group of leeches taking Akira’s time away from him.

He’s also not ashamed or afraid to admit he was a rather unstable teenager.

Even when their group took on a powerful adult, be it the gym teacher who harassed Ann, a famous painter that was obsessed with Yusuke, or—worst of all—the mob boss taking advantage of their classmates, Goro’s only priority had been making sure Akira wasn’t in over his head. He didn’t step in when Ann was being harassed, he stepped in when the man threatened to expel Akira. He didn’t step in when the painter psychologically abused Yusuke, he stepped in when the man called the cops on Akira. He didn’t step in when Nijima was temporarily kidnapped by the mob boss, he stepped in because Akira was taken along with her.

Goro knows he’s better now at caring for his _friends_ , but in those days his only thoughts had been for Akira’s well-being.

Realizing he’d fallen in love with Akira had been easy enough to decipher—there was only so far he’d been willing to delude himself, too obsessed with being completely aware of himself and the world around him—but reckoning with that realization had been impossible in the early months and years.

Not made any easier by the way Akira left a trail of lovesick fools wherever he went.

Goro can’t be too mad that every person Akira smiles at falls for him, he’d be a hypocrite if he were, but he reserves the right to be mad at Akira’s total lack of awareness about the fact. It was a constant struggle throughout the years of having to rein in his more knee-jerks reaction to snarl at every passing glace Akira earned. Not the least of which came from their friends, which may have contributed to Goro’s lack of interest in furthering any friendship with them.

It hadn’t even occurred to him that Akira held similar feelings for him in turn.

Goro rests his elbows on the bar counter and lowers his face into his hands. What right did he have, trying to accept and legitimize Akira’s accidental confession?

He’d lost any right to court him after he broke him a year ago.

The memory of his naïve self still fills him with a sense of dread and hatred even now. How foolish he was, to trust the very same police he’d constantly bemoaned. He’d never had any faith in them from the very start, and then hearing Akira tell his tale of false accusation in high school just made him more spiteful, more vengeful.

And yet, when tossed arrest papers that needed to be signed off on, he hadn’t even glanced at the arrestee’s name.

He’d signed away Akira’s peace of mind, just because he was having an off day. His best friend, the only person he’s ever loved, the one shining star in his dismal life—and he’d broken him.

Goro didn’t deserve to have anything that made him happy, if this was how he’d treated the most precious thing in his life.

His only solace since that fateful day where he realized what he’d done, and then the 48 hours after where he did all he could to get Akira out of there, was that he’d thoroughly destroyed the men who had taken him in every legal way possible. He called in every favor possible with Sae, and worked as many overnights as it took, but the monsters who took and abused Akira were long gone, busted for being dirty cops and informants for the mafia.

He doesn’t care that the target on Akira’s back turned into a target on his own. It was never Akira’s fault in the first place that Kaneshiro was taken down so easily. For them to try and place the blame on him for Kaneshiro, and then also to place _Shido’s_ downfall on him was absurd.

Akira was a catalyst. But Goro had always been planning on exposing the both of them anyway. There was no reason for the scum of the underworld to try and hasten their destruction by targeting Akira.

But even with revenge taken for Akira, his guilt would not dissipate. Yet, he couldn’t stay away from the boy, either. If he did, Akira would only be sadder (why he would after what Goro did to him was baffling, and he wishes Akira would get angry for himself _just once_ —), and Goro refused to be the cause of Akira’s sadness.

So, he visited the hospital every time he was allowed. And then he visited the boy in physical therapy every time he was allowed. And then he tries to apologize in other ways. He tries to prove to Akira that he won’t ever hurt him again.

He asks Akira if he can assist Goro with solving cases. Any case he can find, easy or hard, Goro constantly asks for assistance. And Goro knows he’s not stupid. Akira likely figured him out from the first ask, how Goro is trying to prove himself, prove to Akira he is better now, but he can’t stop. His atonement comes with time spent with Akira, so it’s heaven and hell.

And this month had been like any other month. Ask for Akira’s help, prove to him that Goro’s been a _good boy_ , not hurting any more innocents, _see Akira, you can trust me again, please get better_.

And then the movie night. And then Goro’s need to be by Akira’s side. And then Akira completely surprising him like he always does. Like he can never stop exceeding his expectations.

He loves it as much as he hates it.

Goro groans in frustration.

He thought coming to Leblanc would help clear his head, but the atmosphere reminds him too much of Akira. Akira’s warm smile, his way of stumbling down the stairs, his enthusiastic coffee making, all invade his thoughts, and he finds himself wanting to suffocate in that warmth.

If only Akira hadn’t run. Goro knows he was a split second away from going against his every instinct to protect Akira from himself and gathering the boy in his arms, showing him how much that love was reciprocated, but he was too late. Akira had bolted into the night, adopting his cat-like movements into a flee that would make any stray jealous. Goro had no hope of catching up.

Not to say he hadn’t tried. He tried to intercept him at the station, but Akira had clearly taken every alley he could (a thought that rankles him, _a serial killer is on the loose Akira why can’t you stay safe—)._

Regardless, Goro had failed at catching the boy, which resulted in a two-day chase through any and all familiar locations. He knows he’s gotten close a few times, and if only Ann hadn’t told Sakamoto that he was showing up at their apartment, or else he might’ve found him today.

Instead, Goro is left drowning his sorrow in coffee that isn’t made by his favorite person and working on a horrifying case that gives him feelings of dread that permeate his very bones.

Every victim that looks at him through a computer screen looks too much like Akira.

Goro has already been told by Sae that he’s likely reading too much into it, he’s probably only thinking that way because he’s worried about Akira, she gets the same feeling whenever a case pops up that involves girls with short brown hair, he needs to put away his feelings of anxiety and look at the case objectively—

But even as he tells himself her words, they fall away the second he looks at the victims again and the resemblance strikes him once more.

He needs to find the suspect, and fast, or Goro is going to lose his mind to worry.

His attention is grabbed momentarily by Futaba and Yusuke, who’ve been muttering about him for the better part of an hour now. They obviously think they are being devious about it, but when they’d started clearly pointing at him and texting he’d been clued in immediately.

No matter. It seems the word of Akira’s confession has gotten around to the entire group. Goro knew this would happen the moment he bitten the bullet and beg—no, _politely but firmly requested_ Sakamoto see to Akira when the latter had run from him the other night.

Goro looks up again when Futaba gives out a loud groan of annoyance, “I cannot pay attention here! He is messing up my groove.” She points at him, and he raises an eyebrow in question. He doesn’t think he’s been doing anything out-loud-complaints worthy. Not at the moment, anyway.

It’s no fun messing with the group unless he has Akira here to back him up.

He sighs when he thinks of Akira once more.

Futaba throws her hands into the air and turns to march up the stairs leading to the attic.

Yusuke watches her go, then turns to Goro, “We are having a tough day. We are both preparing to fail our exams.”

Goro snorts at the blunt honesty.

A faint noise distracts the both of them, and Yusuke tilts his head down to see his phone buzzing lightly on the bar top.

“Ah,” Yusuke utters, his eyes glued to his vibrating phone on the countertop, “Who is calling now?” Goro spares him a glance, but quickly averts his eyes when Yusuke continues upon seeing the caller’s name, “Ann? How late for her to be contacting me...” He presumably answers the call, because Goro hears him say, “Hello? How may I assist you tonight, Ann?”

It must be important and urgent, because Ann’s voice comes through loudly, though Goro can’t make out what she’s saying. Goro feels deep foreboding for some reason, however. Call it experience from past events, but Akira is exceptionally good at getting himself into trouble.

Just as he reaches out a hand to take a sip of his not-quite-right coffee ( _too much Sojiro, not enough Akira_ ), Yusuke bolts to his feet next to him.

“Where?!” Goro turns to look at Yusuke directly, he has never heard Yusuke sound so urgent before, and the foreboding feeling intensifies. Ann’s voice on the other end yells some more, and Yusuke looks directly at Goro, “Akira—!! Ann says he’s in trouble, in the back alley somewhere, he’s—!!"

Goro grabs the phone from Yusuke’s hand and points him in Sojiro’s direction, who has long since stopped watching the TV and gives them both a troubled look. Goro tries to direct Yusuke in getting Sojiro to get back up before he tunes in to what Ann is saying.

“—happened, I don’t know, Yusuke, you have to go find him—!” Goro glances at Yusuke talking hurriedly to a serious Sojiro and, satisfied the problem is being explained, turns his attention to Ann while he exits the café.

“Ann, _Ann_!” Her words die slightly at his voice, “What happened? What trouble?” He stands at the entrance to Leblanc, his eyes searching for anything in the darkness.

“Goro, Goro, Akira he—okay okay. We were talking, he was almost to Leblanc, he said he was in the backstreets, and all of sudden he yells and there was nothing over the phone no matter what I said,” She frantically stutters through the chain of events, and Goro truly feels his heart stutter.

“Backstreets. Okay, someone grabbed him down an alley,” Goro reasons, his heart picking up the pace again. He tries to keep himself rational, it couldn’t be what he’s thinking, there’s no way Akira is this unlucky, there’s no way Akira’s been caught by the killer running around Shibuya.

It _can’t_ be. There _has_ to be a milder reason. Not that there’s a good reason for Akira to be grabbed off the street by someone who has no self-preservation, but it can’t be the worst-case scenario.

Goro doesn’t think he can take it.

Goro looks left and right. He doesn’t have time to question what choice he makes. He has to pick a direction and look, he can’t afford to waste another second, not when Akira needs help _now_.

The bell jingles behind him, and Yusuke’s presence is like a splash of cold water. With an extra person by his side, Goro feels a small confidence boost. With the both of them, Akira can be found, he can be helped, they can _save_ him.

But the moment Goro decides to break left, a sound splits the air. A sound that has Goro’s focus narrow and expand. The world stuttering to a stop, before spinning uncontrollably.

A gunshot.

Goro’s mind blanks. He runs.

He can faintly hear Yusuke following behind him, but the thought of his presence doesn’t last longer than a second when all that’s going through his head is _faster faster, what if what if_.

The gunshot was loud, and the backstreets were small and narrow, and that’s the only reason Goro can see for how little time it takes them to find the source.

Two bodies in a dark alley, one wrapped around a struggling man’s legs, and the literal smoking gun on the ground is all the information Goro needs to decide his next course of action. With the man preoccupied with struggling against the figure on his legs, his back is turned to the opening of the alley—perfect for Goro to strike.

He doesn’t even attempt to silence his footsteps, too full of the thought _get him away from Akira._

He doesn’t need to see the other figure on the ground to know it’s Akira. If there was a bad thing happening and someone was hurt, it’s likely to be Akira no matter how much Goro _begs_ for it to never be him.

Goro grabs the man’s wrist, squeezing tight enough for bones to creak, and he uses that leverage to pull him down to the ground, onto his front, away from the other body. Through his peripheral he sees Yusuke skid to a stop next to the slumped figure, and he hears exactly what he expected, but had still hoped to not hear.

“ _Akira!_ ”

Goro turns his full attention back to the scum at his hands and yanks the man’s flailing free hand back with his other. He doesn’t have any handcuffs on him, so he’s left to scowling at his complete inability to assist Yusuke. He places his knee onto the man’s back and uses the force of his weight to bear down on his limbs, effectively forcing the man into submission.

Yusuke yanks off his jacket and wraps it tightly around Akira’s upper arm. The thought that Akira was shot finally permeates his brain, and Goro has to _inhale, exhale_ for a moment to control his base instinct.

His base instinct to slam this scum’s head repeatedly into the concrete.

Yusuke’s voice breaks through his thoughts, quelling the high tide of rising vengeance, “Hey, hey, Akira. Can you hear me?”

A moan answers back, and even just that much gives Goro a piece of his heart back. He hadn’t realized it had shattered with the sound of the gunshot. A moan is an answer, a sense of consciousness. Akira isn’t dead. He’s hurt, but he can be helped.

Footsteps sound around the corner and into the alley, and Goro’s remaining heart leaps into his throat.

The panic subsides when he realizes it’s Sojiro.

Sojiro jolts at the sight in front of him but seems to quickly understand the situation well enough to see Goro has the suspect handled, and goes to help Yusuke.

Goro can barely keep his gaze focused on the two wrapping Akira’s arm securely, his full attention feels fractured between a burning desire to rush to Akira and the equally as pervasive desire to crush the body underneath him.

Sojiro’s voice is low enough that Goro can’t make out the words, but he’s obviously informing Yusuke on how best to take care of Akira until appropriate services can be called. Yusuke gives a few definitive nods back, taking the information to heart, and Goro can’t help his jealousy.

He knows it’s something he can never be rid of—his jealousy of other people holding a care for Akira—but now is the worst time for this to manifest.

To be jealous of Yusuke because he’s the one holding on to a hurt and bleeding Akira while he’s regulated to wiping out the trash who have already gone through with hurting him. He should be used to this by now.

He should be used to not being the one to cart Akira away from danger, too.

A few flashes of Sae Nijima rescuing Akira from a dark room, a flash of Sakamoto guiding Akira through rehabilitation, a hint of Futaba coaching a newly released Akira into interacting with the outside world again.

A wiggle underneath him interrupts his thoughts abruptly, and Goro feels a vindictive pleasure in exerting a bit more might than necessary to end the struggles. He pushes down and whispers a warning into the man’s ear, “If you wish to remain in one piece, I advise you cease getting on my nerves.”

Only babbles respond, and Goro tunes them out, uncaring what the scum has to say in response.

Sojiro must be satisfied with Yusuke’s care of Akira, because he lifts his head and locks eyes with Goro. He lifts himself off the ground and makes his way over to where Goro is kneeling, not even sparing the scum a glance.

“How you doing, kid? You got him secure?”

Goro nods in response, and thankfully Sojiro can tell what he wants. It’s certainly not questions into his own wellbeing.

“He was shot in the arm. It looks to be clean through, no bones hit, so stopping the bleeding is priority.” Goro _inhales, exhales_ once more, “I called the cops and an ambulance as soon as I heard the gunshot.”

A sigh of relief escapes Goro, but he can’t bring himself to say much more in response.

“Here, let me handle this guy. You should go to the kid.”

Goro hesitates for a split second before he decides to let himself have what he wants. He nods and waits for Sojiro to secure the limp body, making sure the guy doesn’t get any ideas of bolting during the handover, and quickly moves back.

The transfer goes smoothly. The scum must’ve decided it was too much trouble to struggle anymore and lets himself be handed over to Sojiro. Goro pauses briefly to make sure Sojiro can handle it, and Sojiro gives him a look like he doesn’t know why Goro hasn’t already transported himself to Akira’s side.

Goro ignores the look and quickly turns to the boy as fast as he can.

His first look at Akira causes a shudder to go through him. The boy’s face is pale, and his upper arm is wrapped tight, where Goro assumes the bullet went through. His eyes are closed and scrunched, likely feeling the pain even through whatever form of semi-consciousness he must be in. Yusuke starts to shift Akira slightly, likely trying to move them both into a comfortable position until help arrives.

Goro kneels down, his hands feeling like cinderblocks by his side for how well he can move them.

Yusuke turns Akira so he can support himself into a sitting position, and he gives Goro a glance that conveys a lot less than what Goro wants to know about his condition, “I think he is in shock; his words make little sense.”

At that, Goro can’t help himself. He brings both his hands to Akira’s face, cradling it and dragging those weary eye to make contact with his own, “Akira,” he murmurs, too exhausted and heartbroken to say anything more.

Akira eyes shine in recognition, but, true to Yusuke’s word, he doesn’t make a lot of sense when he responds, “Ah, Goro, my favorite. Why are you at my place? It’s not my birthday.”

Goro can’t grasp the meaning behind it, but he’s willing to play along if it means Akira will stay awake and aware and _alive_ , “Your place is cold, so I’m gifting you a radiator.”

Akira chuckles, and Goro greedily absorbs the sound, too distracted by the boy to notice if anything happens around him, “Ahh, so kind. What would I do without you?”

Goro smiles self-deprecatingly, “Stop getting hurt, probably.”

“Oh, is that why you look so scared? Am I hurt again?”

“Yeah. Do you remember?”

“Kind of. But it can’t be as bad as last time.” Goro feels his heart stop in anguish. What he wouldn’t give to take those memories from Akira. For him to stop remembering the trauma and comparing it to everything in his life like a measuring stick.

He grits his teeth instead and forces out, “How can you know that?”

“My arm hurts instead of my leg.” The chuckle this time is fake and weak, and Goro can’t handle it. He looks up to Yusuke who has thankfully remained silent throughout the exchange.

Yusuke gives him a nod and says quietly, “The ambulance will be here any second.”

Akira must hear the soft-spoken words, because he tries to tilt his head back. Goro’s hands on his face don’t allow it though, forcing Akira to lock eyes with him again, “Yusuke is here? How nice.”

Goro gives him a sharp laugh, “Keep your focus on me, Akira. Tell me how you’re doing.”

Akira tries to give a slight nod in response, and only Goro’s grip on his face stops the attempt. Akira notices, and gives Goro a slack sheepish smile, “Ahh, Goro, I can’t do anything if you’re stopping me from replying.”

“Reply with your words, then.”

“But I don’t know a lot of those.”

“You know enough. How are you doing?” Goro repeats.

Akira doesn’t speak for a moment, and Goro leans forward slightly to see if the boy had fallen asleep with his eyes open, or something else equally absurd.

“Akira?”

Akira inhales sharply and finally locks eyes with Goro under his own volition, “I like it when you call me by my name.”

Goro can’t think of a reply that doesn’t involve him flapping his mouth dumbly, so he keeps quiet, hoping Akira will elaborate.

He does. “I earned the right for you to call me by my first name. I did that. I’m special.” Goro dumbly nods, unsure how much of this is the shock talking, if Akira even realizes he’s saying all these things. “I’m special, right? But you call Ann by her first name now. And Futaba. And Yusuke. I don’t want you to like them more.”

Akira’s uninjured arm suddenly lifts, and his hand covers one of Goro’s hands on his cheek. Goro can only breathe and listen intently for Akira to go on.

“I don’t want you to like me because you feel guilty.” Akira seems to take advantage of his momentary brush with coherency, as his eyes burn brighter with an emotion Goro is too scared to parse. “I like you too much for that. Can you turn me down, instead of pity dating me?”

Goro feels his knee jerk response rush out of him before he has a chance to stop it, “When have I ever fucking pitied someone enough to do something I didn’t want?”

Akira looks into his eyes for a second too long, and Goro feels himself gear up to say the same thing with different words, probably words that contain the phrase ‘ _I like you too Akira’_ so any misunderstandings can clear up.

But, as he is accustomed to doing, Akira speaks first, “Ah. Never. You’re too stubborn.”

He gives Akira a small smile, “That’s right. I’m happy you noticed.”

A weak chuckle, sincere this time, escapes Akira.

Goro faintly registers officers rounding the corner to their alley and quickly assisting Sojiro with taking the perpetrator of Akira’s current state into custody. 

Feeling like that situation is under control, Goro turns his full attention back to a slightly less coherent Akira.

Goro takes the opportunity to grab Akira’s uninjured hand from where it had dropped from his cheek to place it back there, “Hey, you wanna stay awake for me? We’re not finished talking.”

“Ah. ‘m sorry, Goro, I didn’t realize I wasn’t allowed to exit this conversation.” Akira’s snark comes back full force, which is exactly what Goro wants when he demands things.

“You’re not. I’m very glad you’re noticing so much right now.”

Akira’s eyebrows furrow in annoyance at Goro’s condescending attitude, which only encourages him to be worse. Goro glances up to Yusuke, who only lifts an eyebrow at Goro’s methods.

He doesn’t feel like justifying anything at this point, so he ignores him.

“Akira. Tell me how you are doing.”

Akira gives him a last look of annoyance before his eyes droop abruptly, and his hand falls away from Goro’s face. He instantly goes to grab it from the air and says his name in a panic, but Akira is already passed out.

Goro doesn’t get the chance to freak out like he wants to, as a woman rounds the corner into their alleyway.

She quickly takes stock of the scene and motions to whomever is waiting beyond Goro’s vision, blocked by the walls surrounding the alleyway.

As Goro expects, a stretcher appears shortly, two other people accompanying it.

The woman makes her way over to Yusuke and Goro, while keeping her eyes focused on Akira, “Is this the patient?”

Goro nods silently, “Yes, he’s been shot. In the arm.” He has never felt more useless at conveying information, his mind splintering at the seams. Akira’s lack of response to the happenings around him makes him more nervous than he wants to admit.

The woman nods, “Okay, stand back a little, we’re going to load him up.”

Quickly, the two others, along with the woman, gently extract Akira from Yusuke and Goro’s reach. Goro feels his heart break again at the loss of warm that tells him Akira is fine, his thoughts suddenly trying to bring up the worst-case scenarios again.

Only the feeling of Yusuke laying a comforting hand on his shoulder stops him from moving forward and attaching himself to Akira even while he’s being gently laid out on a stretcher.

The woman who spoke to them before turns to them both once they get Akira safely onto the cot, “Would someone like to ride along? We can only take one of you.”

Goro hesitates for only a brief moment before Yusuke not so subtly taps the middle of his back, pushing him forward.

Goro takes the initiative, “Yes, I’m coming with.”

She nods and leads him out of the alley, back to the backstreets, and toward the road. Akira is already loaded into the back of the ambulance and Goro wastes no time in climbing into the back with him.

The doors close behind him, but all Goro can register is the press of Akira’s warm hand slotting into Goro’s. He tells himself to concentrate on that warmth, concentrate on the facts. Akira is okay. He got to him in time. Akira will be okay. This is not his fault.

He loves Akira. He’s not wasting any more time on what-ifs.

He’s staying by Akira’s side this time.

His head bows and he places a gentle kiss on Akira’s wrist.

He hopes Akira will believe him when he says he wants, more than anything, to be with him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Me, shooting Akira then dipping for 3 weeks: FUCKING OOPS. 
> 
> I apologize OTL


End file.
